Curcumin Increase the Expression of Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells and Improves Functional Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury

To investigates the effect of curcumin on proliferation of spinal cord neural stem/progenitor cells (SC-NSPCs) and functional outcome in a rat spinal cord injury (SCI) model. Sixty adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly and blindly allocated into three groups (sham control group; curcumin treated group after SCI; vehicle treated group after SCI). Functional recovery was evaluated by the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) scale during 6 weeks after SCI. The expression of SC-NSPC proliferation and astrogliosis were analyzed by nestin/Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) staining. The injured spinal cord was then examined histologically, including quantification of cavitation. The BBB score of the SCI-curcumin group was better than that of SCI-vehicle group up to 14 days (