Immunomodulatory effects of etanercept in an experimental model of spinal cord injury

Etanercept is a tumor necrosis factor antagonist with anti-inflammatory effects. The aim of our study was to evaluate for the first time the therapeutic efficacy of in vivo inhibition of tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) in experimental model of spinal cord trauma, which was induced by the application of vascular clips (force of 24 g) to the dura via a four-level T5–T8 laminec-tomy. Spinal cord injury in mice resulted in severe trauma characterized by edema, neutrophil infiltration, and cytokine production that it is followed by recruitment of other inflamma-tory cells, such as production of a range of inflammation me-diators, tissue damage, apoptosis, and disease. Treatment of the mice with etanercept significantly reduced the degree of 1) spinal cord inflammation and tissue injury (histological score); 2) neutrophil infiltration (myeloperoxidase evaluation); 3) induc