L-Arginine Depletion Improves Spinal Cord Injury via Immunomodulation and Nitric Oxide Reduction

Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) elicits robust neuroinflammation that eventually exacerbates the initial damage to the spinal cord. L-arginine is critical for the responsiveness of T cells, which are important contributors to neuroinflammation after SCI. Furthermore, L-arginine is the substrate for nitric oxide (NO) production, which is a known inducer of secondary damage.

Methods: To accomplish systemic L-arginine depletion, repetitive injections of recombinant arginase-1 (rArg-I) were performed. Functional recovery and histopathological parameters were analyzed. Splenic immune responses were evaluated by flow cytometry. Pro-inflammatory gene expression and nitrite concentrations were measured.

Results: We show for the first time that systemic L-arginine depletion improves locomotor recovery. Flow cytometry and immunohistological analysis showed that intraspinal T-cell infiltration was reduced by 65%, and peripheral numbers of Th1 and Th17 cells were suppressed. Moreover, rArg-I treatment reduced the intraspinal NO production by 40%. Histopathological analyses revealed a 37% and 36% decrease in the number of apoptotic neurons and neuron-macrophage/microglia contacts in the spinal cord, respectively.

Conclusions: Targeting detrimental T-cell responses and NO-production via rArg-I led to a reduced neuronal cell death and an improved functional recovery. These findings indicate that L-arginine depletion holds promise as a therapeutic strategy after SCI.