Complement C5a is detrimental to histological and functional locomotor recovery after spinal cord injury in mice

Abstract Based on the studies on the role of complements C3, C1q and factor B, we hypothesized that complement C5a is detrimental to locomotor recovery at the early stage of secondary injury after spinal cord injury (SCI). To test this hypothesis, we investigated the effect of inhibition of complement C5a receptor (C5aR) by using C5aR antagonist PMX53 (C5aRA) and deficiency of complement C5a receptor (C5aR −/− mice) on histological and locomotor recovery after SCI in mice. We demonstrated that the Basso Mouse Scale scores in the mice injected with C5aRA (C5aRA-mice) at 45 min before and 24 h after SCI and the C5aR −/− mice were markedly higher than those in the mice treated with saline (Saline-mice) and the C5aR +/+ mice respectively between 7 and 28 days after SCI. Also, expression of TNF-α and IL-1β in C5aRA-mice was significantly lower than that in Saline-mice from 1 to 24 h after SCI. In addition, the percentage of microglia/macrophage in C5aRA mice and C5aR −/− mice was significantly lower than those in their corresponding control groups from 1 to 14 days after SCI. Furthermore, C5aRA mice and C5aR −/− mice had less GFAP expression in the injured spinal cord epicenter as compared to Saline mice and C5aR +/+ mice at day 28 after SCI. These findings provided evidence that inhibition or deficiency of C5aR could significantly improve histological and functional locomotor recovery after SCI in mice.