Conclusions
Our findings provide a strategy for oral drug research in SCI. The results suggest that Pectin-Zein-IPA NPs have potential advantages for treatment and management of SCI. Reducing L-methionine intake may help reduce neuroinflammation after SCI.
Results
The results showed that Pectin-Zein-IPA NPs treatment improves motor function recovery, inhibits the activation of oxidative stress, enhances axonal regeneration and activates AKT/Nrf-2 signaling pathway following SCI. Further analysis showed that Pec-Zein-IPA NPs treatment reduced the intestinal flora metabolite accumulation of L-methionine, and alleviated neuroinflammation by improving autophagy and inhibiting pyroptosis. Pec-Zein-IPA may reduced neuroinflammation after SCI by decreasing the abundance of Clostridia-UCG-014, Clostridia-vadinBB60-group, Shewanella (positively correlated with L-Methionine) and increasing the abundance of Parasutterella (negatively correlated with L-Methionine). Conclusions: Our findings provide a strategy for oral drug research in SCI. The results suggest that Pectin-Zein-IPA NPs have potential advantages for treatment and management of SCI. Reducing L-methionine intake may help reduce neuroinflammation after SCI.