Effect of dexmedetomidine on epidural fibrosis after spinal surgery in rats via the transforming growth factor-β1 pathway
- VernacularTitle:右美托咪定通过转化生长因子-β1途径对大鼠脊柱切除术后硬膜外纤维化的影响
- Author:
Guoqing HOU
1
;
Hailong YUE
;
Qian CHANG
;
Juntao MA
Author Information
- Keywords: spinal surgery; dexmedetomidine; transforming growth factor-β1; epidural fibro-sis; rats
- From: Journal of Clinical Medicine in Practice 2025;29(1):77-82
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
- Abstract: Objective To investigate the impact of dexmedetomidine on epidural fibrosis after spinal surgery in rats through the transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1)signaling pathway.Meth-ods A total of 40 rats were selected,with 10 rats assigned to control group.The remaining 30 rats underwent spinal surgery modeling and were randomly divided into model group,dexmedetomidine group,and dexmedetomidine+TGF-β1 agonist group,with 10 rats in each.Rats with unsuccessful modeling were excluded,resulting in 9 rats in each group for subsequent analysis.Pathological char-acteristics of epidural scar tissue,fibroblast count,PCNA-positive cell expression rate,levels of in-flammatory markers[interleukin(IL)-6,IL-1β,IL-8],stress response indicators[malondialdehyde(MDA),superoxide dismutase(SOD)],and expression levels of mRNAs and proteins related to the TGF-β1 signaling pathway were observed and compared among the groups.Results Compared with the control group,the other three groups showed increased fibroblast count,elevated PCNA-positive cell expression rate,higher levels of IL-6,IL-1β,IL-8,and MDA,lower SOD levels,and increased expression levels of TGF-β1 mRNA,Smad3 mRNA,and TGF-β1 and Smad3 proteins,with statistically significant differences(P＜0.05).Compared with the model group,both the dexmedetomidine group and the dexmedetomidine+TGF-β1 agonist group exhibited decreased fibroblast count,re-duced PCNA-positive cell expression rate,lower levels of IL-6,IL-1 β,IL-8 and MDA,higher SOD levels,and decreased expression levels of TGF-β1 mRNA,Smad3 mRNA,and TGF-β1 and Smad3 proteins,with statistically significant differences(P＜0.05).Compared with the dexmedetomidine group,the dexmedetomidine+TGF-β1 agonist group showed increased fibroblast count,elevated PCNA-positive cell expression rate,higher levels of IL-6,IL-1 β,IL-8 and MDA,lower SOD lev-els,and increased expression levels of TGF-β1 mRNA,Smad3 mRNA,and TGF-β1 and Smad3 proteins,with statistically significant differences(P＜0.05).Conclusion Dexmedetomidine can significantly alleviate the inflammatory response and stress response after spinal surgery in rats and reduce postoperative epidural fibrosis by inhibiting the TGF-β1 signaling pathway.
