Effects of xenon on ischemic spinal cord injury in rabbits: a comparison with propofol.
BACKGROUND
Xenon has been shown to reduce cellular injury after cerebral ischemia. However, the neuroprotective effects of xenon on ischemic spinal cord are unknown. The authors compared the effects of xenon and propofol on spinal cord injury following spinal cord ischemia in rabbits.


METHODS
Thirty-two male New Zealand white rabbits were randomly assigned to one of three groups. In the xenon and propofol group, 70% of xenon and 0.8 mg/kg/min of propofol were administered 30 min before an aortic occlusion and maintained until the end of the procedure. The aortic occlusion was performed for 15 min. In the sham group, the aorta was not occluded. After an assessment of the hind limb motor function using the Tarlov score (0=paraplegia, 4=normal) at 48 h after reperfusion, gray and white matter injuries were evaluated based on the number of normal neurons in the anterior spinal cord and the percentage areas of vacuolation in the white matter, respectively.


RESULTS
In the xenon and propofol groups, the Tarlov score and the number of normal neurons were significantly lower than those in the sham group, whereas the percentage areas of vacuolation were similar among the three groups. There were no significant differences in Tarlov scores and the number of normal neurons between the xenon and the propofol groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The results indicated that 70% of xenon has no additional neuroprotective effects on ischemic spinal cord injury in rabbits compared with propofol.
Yamamoto
Y
Y
Department of Anesthesiology, Nara Medical University, Nara 634-8522, Japan.
Kawaguchi
M
M
Kurita
N
N
Kakimoto
M
M
Inoue
S
S
Furuya
H
H
D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018686:Anesthetics, Intravenous / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000502:physiology; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D015742:Propofol / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011817:Rabbits; D020127:Recovery of Function; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D020760:Spinal Cord Ischemia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D014978:Xenon / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation; D018686:Anesthetics, Intravenous; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D014978:Xenon; D015742:Propofol