title: Allopregnanolone and progesterone decrease cell death and cognitive deficits after a contusion of the rat pre-frontal cortex.
abstract: We compared the effects of three different doses of allopregnanolone (4, 8 or 16 mg/kg), a metabolite of progesterone, to progesterone (16 mg/kg) in adult rats with controlled cortical impact to the pre-frontal cortex. Injections were given 1 h, 6 h and every day for 5 consecutive days after the injury. One day after injury, both progesterone-treated (16 mg/kg) and allopregnanolone (8 or 16 mg/kg)-treated rats showed less caspase-3 activity, and rats treated with allopregnanolone (16 mg/kg) showed less DNA fragmentation in the lesion area, indicating reduced apoptosis. Nineteen days after the injury, rats treated with progesterone and allopregnanolone (8 or 16 mg/kg) showed no difference in necrotic cavity size but had less cell loss in the medio-dorsal nucleus of the thalamus and less learning and memory impairments compared with the injured vehicle-treated rats. On that same day the injured rats treated with progesterone showed more weight gain compared with the injured rats treated with the vehicle. These results can be taken to show that progesterone and allopregnanolone have similar neuroprotective effects after traumatic brain injury, but allopregnanolone appears to be more potent than progesterone in facilitating CNS repair.
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Laboratory, Department of Emergency Medicine, 1648 Pierce Drive, Cell Biology Building, Room 261, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Djebaili
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D008297:Male; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000293:injuries; D011280:Pregnanolone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011374:Progesterone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D011374:Progesterone; D011280:Pregnanolone; C505410:Casp3 protein, rat; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases