Abstract:
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major reason of mortality around the world. In this
investigation the effect of Paeoniflorin (PF) was tested against TBI in mice. Two doses
5mg and 40mg of PF were used. The design of the experiment included five groups of
Balb/c mice. Except the sham group the four groups (TBI, TBI+ IBU, TBI+PF 5mg and
TBI+PF 40mg) were induced with the focal head injury using the weight-drop technique.
Neurological severity score (NSS), measurement of edema and acetylcholine levels,
behavioral tests like Morris water maze (MWM), Novel object recognition (NOR), social
interaction test, Elevated plus maze (EPM), Light and dark box (LDB) were conducted.
The result of each test was presented by a graph. The NSS results were recorded at
intervals of 4h and 72h showing a significant difference in the severity score of sham
group and TBI+PF (40mg) group. Edema was determined in the hippocampus and the
cortex at 48h and 288h both revealing no significant difference. Acetylcholine levels
were measured in hippocampus and cortex at 48h and 288h, depicting significantly more
amount of acetylcholine levels in TBI+PF (40mg) group. The graph of Morris water
maze test revealed an improved spatial learning in mice injected with 40mg of
paeoniflorin while no improvement was recorded in the TBI group. The novel object
recognition test revealed no significant difference. Social behavior test revealed an
increase in social abilities of mice for both 5mg and 40mg dosage. In elevated plus maze
test the paeoniflorin dosage reduced the anxiety levels compared to TBI group. Similarly,
light and dark box test also revealed that 5mg dosage of paeoniflorin reduces anxiety in
mice. Further studies on such anti-inflammatory drugs may result in reducing the
mortality rate in TBI patients.
