Turkish Neurosurgery 2023 , Vol 33 , Num 1
The Matrix Metalloproteinase Inhibitor Batimastat Reduces Epidural Fibrosis After Laminectomy in Rats
Ziya YURTAL1,Huseyin OZKAN2,Tuncer KUTLU3,Mehmet Zeki Yilmaz DEVECI1,Boran URFALI4,Senem URFALI5
1Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Surgery, Hatay, Turkey
2Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Genetics, Hatay, Turkey
3Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathology, Hatay, Turkey
4Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery, Hatay, Turkey
5Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Anaesthesia and Reanimation, Hatay, Turkey
DOI : 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.41841-22.2 AIM: To investigate the efficacy of locally applied batimastat after laminectomy in preventing postoperative epidural fibrosis.

MATERIAL and METHODS: Thirty-two Wistar albino male rats weighing 200?250 g were used. The rats were assigned to four different groups (I-Control group, II-sham group, III-Laminectomy+Batimastat group, and IV-Laminectomy+SpongostanTM group). The rats were euthanized 28 days after surgery before TNF-?, IL6, IL-1?, IL10, TGF-?1, and MMP9 gene expression levels of tissue in the surgical area were determined with qPCR. TNF-?, IL6, and IL10 protein levels were also measured in both tissue and plasma. In addition, the surgical area was evaluated by histopathological and immunohistochemical methods.

RESULTS: TNF-?, IL6, and IL-1? gene expression levels were higher in the batimastat group than in the control group. Whereas IL10 gene expression levels increased about two-fold in the sham and SpongostanTM groups, in the batimastat group, it was similar to that in the control group. TGF-?1 gene expression was three-fold higher in the sham group but was similar to that in the control group in both batimastat and SpongostanTM groups. MMP9 gene expression levels significantly decreased only in the batimastat group. In addition, fibrosis score, fibroblast cell count, inflammatory cell count, and CD105 expression decreased in the batimastat group relative to the control.

CONCLUSION: Molecular and pathological examination results suggested that batimastat is an effective agent in reducing the occurrence of epidural fibrosis after laminectomy. Keywords : Batimastat, CD105, Epidural fibrosis, Postlaminectomy Syndrome, Laminectomy

Corresponding author : Ziya YURTAL, ziyayurtal@gmail.com