Vitamin B₁₂ Enhances Nerve Repair and Improves Functional Recovery After Traumatic Brain Injury by Inhibiting ER...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most common causes of neurological damage in young human populations. Vitamin B₁₂ has been reported to promote axon growth of neuronal cells after peripheral nerve injury, which is currently used for the treatment of peripheral nerve damage in the clinical trial. Thus, we hypothesized that TBI can be attenuated by vitaminB₁₂ treatment through its beneficial role on axon regeneration after nerve injury. To confirm it, the biological function of vitaminB₁₂ was characterized using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, Luxol fast blue (LFB) staining, western blot analysis, and immunohistochemistry staining. The results showed that the neurological functional recovery was improved in the VitaminB₁₂-treated group after TBI, which may be due to downregulation of the endoplasmic reticulum stress-related apoptosis signaling pathway. Moreover, the microtubule stabilization, remyelination and myelin reparation were rescued by vitamin B₁₂, which was consistent with the treatment of 4-phenylbutyric acid (4-PBA), an endoplasmic reticulum stress inhibitor. The study suggests that vitamin B₁₂ may be useful as a novel neuroprotective drug for TBI.