AUTHOR=Huang Chongan , Zhang Weiqi , Chu FeiFan , Qian Hao , Wang Yining , Qi Fangzhou , Ye Mengke , Zhou Jiaying , Lin Zhi , Dong ChenLin , Wang Xiangyang , Wang Qingqing , Jin Haiming TITLE=Patchouli Alcohol Improves the Integrity of the Blood-Spinal Cord Barrier by Inhibiting Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Through the Akt/CHOP/Caspase-3 Pathway Following Spinal Cord Injury JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology VOLUME=9 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2021.693533 DOI=10.3389/fcell.2021.693533 ISSN=2296-634X ABSTRACT=

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a destructive and complex disorder of the central nervous system (CNS) for which there is no clinical treatment. Blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) rupture is a critical event in SCI that aggravates nerve injury. Therefore, maintaining the integrity of the BSCB may be a potential method to treat SCI. Here, we showed that patchouli alcohol (PA) exerts protective effects against SCI. We discovered that PA significantly prevented hyperpermeability of the BSCB by reducing the loss of tight junctions (TJs) and endothelial cells. PA also suppressed endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis in vitro. Furthermore, in a rat model of SCI, PA effectively improved neurological deficits. Overall, these results prove that PA exerts neuroprotective effects by maintaining BSCB integrity and thus be a promising candidate for SCI treatment.