Spinal cord injury (SCI), as a severe disease with no effective therapeutic measures, has always been a hot topic for scientists. Bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7), as a multifunctional cytokine, has been reported to exert protective effects on the nervous system. The present study aimed to investigate the neuroprotective effect and the potential mechanisms of BMP7 on rats that suffered SCI. Rat models of SCI were established by the modified Allen^'s method. Adeno-associated virus (AAV) was injected at T9 immediately before SCI to overexpress BMP7. Results showed that the expression of BMP7 decreased in the injured spinal cords that were at the same time demyelinated. AAV-BMP7 partly reversed oligodendrocyte (OL) loss, and it was beneficial to maintain the normal structure of myelin. The intervention group showed an increase in the number of axons and Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan scores. Moreover, double-labelled immunofluorescence images indicated p-Smad1/5/9 and p-STAT3 in OLs induced by BMP7 might be involved in the protective effects of BMP7. These findings suggest that BMP7 may be a feasible therapy for SCI to reduce demyelination and promote functional recovery.

中文翻译：

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骨形态发生蛋白 7 的过表达可减少少突胶质细胞的损失并促进脊髓损伤后的功能恢复

脊髓损伤(SCI)作为一种没有有效治疗措施的严重疾病，一直是科学家们关注的热点。据报道，骨形态发生蛋白 7 (BMP7) 作为一种多功能细胞因子，对神经系统具有保护作用。本研究旨在探讨 BMP7 对 SCI 大鼠的神经保护作用及其潜在机制。^{由改良的 Allen '}建立大鼠 SCI 模型s 方法。在 SCI 前的 T9 处注射腺相关病毒 (AAV) 以过度表达 BMP7。结果显示，BMP7在同时脱髓鞘的损伤脊髓中表达降低。AAV-BMP7 部分逆转了少突胶质细胞 (OL) 的损失，有利于维持髓鞘的正常结构。干预组显示轴突数量和 Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan 评分增加。此外，双标免疫荧光图像表明BMP7诱导的OLs中的p-Smad1/5/9和p-STAT3可能参与了BMP7的保护作用。这些发现表明，BMP7 可能是一种可行的 SCI 治疗方法，以减少脱髓鞘和促进功能恢复。