Functional Recovery of Contused Spinal Cord in Rat with the Injection of Optimal‐Dosed Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles

Spinal cord injury (SCI) produces excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can exacerbate secondary injury and lead to permanent functional impairment. Hypothesizing that cerium oxide nanoparticles (CONPs) as an effective ROS scavenger may offset this damaging effect, it is first demonstrated in vitro that CONPs suppressed inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) generation and enhanced cell viability of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)‐insulted cortical neurons. Next, CONPs are administered at various does (50–4000 µg mL−1) to a contused spinal cord rat model and monitored the disease progression for up to eight weeks. At one day postinjury, the number of iNOS+ cells decreases in the treated groups compared with the control. At one week, the cavity size and inflammatory cells are substantially reduced, and the expression of proinflammatory and apoptotic molecules is downregulated with a concurrent upregulation of anti‐inflammatory cytokine. By eight weeks, the treated groups show significantly improved locomotor functions compared with the control. This study shows for the first time that injection of optimal‐dosed CONPs alone into contusion‐injured spinal cord of rats can reduce ROS level, attenuate inflammation and apoptosis, and consequently help locomotor functional recovery, adding a promising and complementary strategy to the other treatments of acute SCI. Cerium oxide nanoparticles directly injected to contused spinal cord of rats at optimal doses (250–1000 µg mL−1) significantly improve the functional recovery by downregulating inflammatory and apoptotic signals and the upregulation of neuronal regeneration.