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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2006;132:941-947
© 2006 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Cardiopulmonary Support and Physiology

Nonviral gene transfer of hepatocyte growth factor attenuates neurologic injury after spinal cord ischemia in rabbits

^a First Department of Surgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
^b Department of Anesthesiology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
^c Department of Cardiac Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, China.

Received for publication April 24, 2006; revisions received June 11, 2006; accepted for publication June 16, 2006.

^_* Address for reprints: Teruhisa Kazui, MD, PhD, the First Department of Surgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Hamamatsu 431-3192, Japan. (Email: tkazui{at}hama-med.ac.jp).

Objective: Paraplegia caused by spinal cord ischemia remains a serious complication after surgical repair of thoracoabdminal aortic aneurysms. Hepatocyte growth factor is a potent angiogenic and neurotrophic factor. We sought to investigate the neuroprotective effect of gene transfer of hepatocyte growth factor on spinal cord ischemia in rabbits.

Methods: Human hepatocyte growth factor expression plasmid was combined with hemagglutinating virus of Japan envelope vector. Hemagglutinating virus of Japan envelope vector containing the hepatocyte growth factor gene was injected intrathecally into the experimental rabbits, whereas control vector or saline was given to the control animals. Five days later, spinal cord ischemia was induced by means of infrarenal aortic occlusion for 30 minutes. Hind-limb motor function was assessed during a 14-day recovery period with Tarlov criteria.

Results: Human hepatocyte growth factor was detected in the cerebrospinal fluid 3 days after gene transfer, and the level peaked on day 5. Compared with the control animals, hepatocyte growth factor gene transfer significantly increased the capillary density in the gray matter and decreased the spinal cord edema. All rabbits pretreated with saline or control vector had hind-limb paraplegia (Tarlov score = 0) 14 days after spinal cord ischemia. However, previous transfection of the hepatocyte growth factor gene remarkably enhanced the Tarlov scores, and 8 of the 9 rabbits showed normal motor function (Tarlov score = 5) after a 14-day recovery period. Histologic examination showed that the intact motor neurons were preserved to a much greater extent in the rabbits transfected with the hepatocyte growth factor gene.

Conclusion: Gene transfer of hepatocyte growth factor attenuates neurologic injury after spinal cord ischemia.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Sakurai Which cell is transferred hepatocyte growth factor gene? J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg., April 1, 2007; 133(4): 1120 - 1120. [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Shi Reply to the Editor J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg., April 1, 2007; 133(4): 1120 - 1121. [Full Text] [PDF]