ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neurotrauma
This article is part of the Research TopicMapping, Repairing and Regenerating Spinal Cord CircuitsView all articles
Efficacy of Polyethylene Glycol in the Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury and Its Effect on Inflammatory Response and Oxidative Stress Factors
Provisionally accepted
- 1Ruikang Hospital Affiliated to Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, China
- 2GuangXi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, China
- 3Guangxi University, Nanning, China
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Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a severe injury characterized by neuroinflammation and oxidative stress. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) has shown many advantages in SCI such as repairing axonal membranes, improving the microenvironment after SCI, preventing nerve fiber degeneration, and inhibiting spinal cord vacuoles and scar formation. Therefore, PEG is considered a potentially effective fusogen for promoting recovery from SCI. To further evaluate this potential, the present study aimed to explore more effects of PEG on SCI and the underlying molecular mechanisms by establishing a mouse spinal cord total transection model. Motor function was assessed using the Basso Mouse Scale (BMS) and footprint analysis, followed by assessment of inflammatory and oxidative stress markers. The results showed that mice in the PEG-applied group exhibited significantly improved BMS scores at 7, 14, and 28 days post-injury compared to mice in the SCI group, promoting recovery of motor function after SCI, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) kit assays as well as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) showed that during the early phase of SCI, PEG demonstrates significant efficacy in attenuating oxidative stress and suppressing the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Histopathological examination showed that PEG protected spinal cord axons and myelin tissue, and cystic vacuoles were significantly reduced. In addition, immunofluorescence results observed that PEG had a neuroprotective effect on axonal regeneration after SCI and promoted the recovery of nerve conduction after SCI, which was also confirmed by electrophysiological results. These results demonstrate PEG as a fusogen and its application immediately after SCI as an innovative and potential therapeutic strategy.
Keywords: Inflammatory Response, Mouse, Oxidative Stress, polyethylene glycol, spinal cord injury
Received: 29 Sep 2025; Accepted: 03 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Wang, Zhang and Ren. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaoping Ren
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