Focal microinjection of 2, 3-dihyro-6-nitro-7-sulfamoyl-benzo(f)quinoxaline (
NBQX), an antagonist of the
AMPA/
kainate subclass of
glutamate receptors, reduces neurological deficits and tissue loss after
spinal cord injury. Dose-dependent sparing of white matter is seen at 1 month after injury that is correlated to the dose-related reduction in chronic functional deficits. To determine whether
NBQX exerts an acute effect on white matter pathology, female, adult Spague Dawley rats were subjected to a standardized weight drop
contusion at T-8 (10 gm x 2.5 cm) and
NBQX (15 nmol) or vehicle (VEH)
solution focally injected into the injury site 15 min later. At 4 and 24 hr, tissue from the injury epicenter was processed for light and electron microscopy, and the histopathology of ventromedial white matter was compared. The axonal injury index, a quantitative representation of axoplasmic and myelinic pathologies, was significantly lower in the
NBQX group at 4 hr (2.7 +/- 0.24, mean +/- SE) and 24 hr (1.4 +/- 0.19) than in VEH controls (3.8 +/- 0.33 and 2.1 +/- 0.20, respectively). Counts of glial cell nuclei indicated a loss of at least 60% at 4 and 24 hr after injury in the VEH group compared with uninjured controls.
NBQX treatment reduced this glial loss by half. Immunohistochemistry revealed that the spared glia were primarily oligodendrocytes. Thus, the chronic effects of
NBQX in reducing white matter loss after
spinal cord injury appear to be attributable to the reduction of acute pathology and may be mediated through the protection of glia, particularly oligodendrocytes.