Tadalafil attenuates spinal cord injury induced oxidative organ damage in rats

Spinal cord injury (SCI) has been shown to cause systemicinflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) which damagesmultiple organs due to an influx of inflammatory cells from thecirculation. In this study, we evaluated the effect of tadalafil, aphoshodiesterase inhibitor, against spinal cord, kidney andbladder damage in experimental animal model of spinal cordinjury. Male Wistar albino rats were divided into sham-operatedcontrol, and either vehicle or tadalafil-treated SCI groups. Inorder to induce SCI, a standard weight-drop method thatinduced a moderately severe injury (100 g/cm force) at T10,was used. Injured animals were given either 10 mg/kg tadalafilor vehicle 15 minutes post injury and repeated daily for sevendays. After decapitation spinal cord, kidney and bladder tissuesamples were obtained to examine oxidative tissue injury;malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) levels, andsuperoxide dismutase (SOD), myeloperoxidase (MPO) andcaspase-3 activities. Tissues were also examined histologically.In the injured animals, MDA levels MPO and caspase-3activities in tissues were found significantly increased whiletadalafil treatment reversed these increases. On the other handSCI-induced decreases in GSH levels and SOD activities werealso reversed with tadalafil treatment. According to the results,tadalafil exerts beneficial effects against SCI-inducedoxidative damage in spinal cord and also in remote organssuch as kidney and bladder tissues through its antiinflammatoryand antioxidant effects.