title: Blocking weight-induced spinal cord injury in rats: effects of TRH or naloxone on motor function recovery and spinal cord blood flow.
abstract: The ability of thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) or naloxone to reduce the motor function deficit and to improve the spinal cord blood flow (SCBF) was investigated in a rat spinal cord compression injury model. Spinal cord injury was induced by compression for 5 min with a load of 35 g on a 2.2 x 5.0 mm sized compression plate causing a transient paraparesis. One group of animals was given TRH, one group naloxone and one group saline alone. Each drug was administered intravenously as a bolus dose of 2 mg/kg 60 min after injury followed by a continuous infusion of 2 mg/kg/h for 4 h. The motor performance was assessed daily on the inclined plane until Day 4, when SCBF was measured with the 14C-iodoantipyrine autoradiographic method. It was found that neither TRH nor naloxone had promoted motor function recovery or affected SCBF 4 days after spinal cord injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holtz
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nyström
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gerdin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D009270:Naloxone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013973:Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D009270:Naloxone; D013973:Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone