Buyang Huanwu decoction facilitates the repair of red nucleus neurons subsequent to spinal cord injury in rats via autophagy.

Background: To explore the effects of Buyang Huanwu Decoction (BYHWD) on neurons in the red nucleus of rats with spinal cord injury (SCI) based on autophagy.

Methods: 120 Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into 6 groups: Control Group, SCI Group, Bafilomycin A1 Group, Rapamycin Group, BYHWD low-dose group (BL Group, 6.25 g/kg), BYHWD high-dose group (BH Group, 25.00 g/kg), with 20 animals in each group. A rat rubrospinal tract (RST) transection model was established and treated for 28 days. The recovery of motor function of rats was observed through inclined plate test and spontaneous upright exploratory behavior test. Nissl's staining was used to observe the cell morphology of injured red nucleus neurons. Reverse Transcription PCR (RT-PCR) and immunofluorescence were used to detect the expression of ATG5 and Beclin1 mRNA. The Western blot method was used to observe the expression levels of Synaptophysin (SYP), Synaptosomal-associated Protein of 25 kDa (SNAP-25), Postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD-95), ATG5, and Beclin1 proteins in red nucleus tissue.

Results: Compared with the SCI group, both BL and BH groups significantly improved the forelimb motor function and improved the status of red nucleus neurons in SCI rats. BYHWD increased SYP, SNAP-25, PSD-95, and decreased the red core Beclin1 and ATG5.

Conclusions: BYHWD enhances synaptic regeneration and limb activity in red nucleus neurons of SCI rats by inhibiting autophagy.