Figure 3

Role of PPAR-α in simvastatin-induced recovery of motor function and inhibition of neutrophil infiltration after SCI. To evaluate if histological damage to the spinal cord was associated a loss of motor function the modified BMS hind limb locomotor rating scale score was evaluated (a). The degree of motor disturbance was assessed every day until 10 days after SCI by BMS criteria. Treatment of injured- PPAR-α WT mice with simvastatin significantly reduces the motor disturbance after SCI (a). In addition, we investigate the role of simvastatin on the neutrophil infiltration by measurement of the activity of MPO. Treatment with simvastatin significantly reduced the MPO activity (h). The genetic absence of the PPAR-α as well as the treatment with GW6471 significantly blocked the effect of simvastatin treatment on motor recovery (a) and neutrophils infiltration (b). Data are means ± SEM of 10 mice for each group. *P < 0.01 vs. Sham; °P < 0.01 vs. SCI-WT group; ‡P < 0.01 vs. simvastatin -treated WT mice.