Tauroursodeoxycholic acid protects rat spinal cord neurons after mechanical injury through regulating neuronal autophagy

•In this paper, we summarized the protective effect of tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) on the spinal cord nerve cells (SCN) of SD rats and intended to explore the protective mechanism of TUDCA against mechanical injury of the SCN. To study the protective effect of tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) on the spinal cord nerve cells (SCN) of SD rats and to explore the protective mechanism of TUDCA against mechanical injury of the SCN. The SCN of SD rats were cultured in vitro, and a mechanical injury models of 1 mm, 3 mm, and 5 mm SCN were established. The cell survival rate was determined using the MTT assay to determine the optimal degree and time of injury. Different concentrations (0.5, to 20 mmol/L) of TUDCA were used to detect SCN cell survival rate after mechanical injury. MTT assay was used to determine the optimal TUDCA intervention dose. SCN autophagy in different experimental groups were observed by electron microscopy after the best degree of mechanical injury, time of injury, and TUDCA concentration. Beclin-1 and LC3 II/I expressions were detected by western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Survival rate of SCN was close to 50% when the injury interval was 3 mm and the injury time was 24 h, significantly different from those of each group (P