title: Effects of the aged garlic extract on spinal cord injury model in rat.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Aged garlic extract (AGE) is a potent antioxidant agent with an established neuroprotective effect in cerebral ischemia. However, the potential protective effect of AGE in spinal cord injury (SCI) is still unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  Spinal cord trauma was applied to 19 adult male Wistar rats using the clip compression method. Animals were divided into three groups. Animals in the AGE group were administered 250 mg/kg per day of AGE diluted in tap water orally by gavage for 15 days prior to trauma. After spinal cord trauma, malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels of the AGE group were compared with the animals in the control and SCI groups. The animals were examined by inclined plane 24 hours (h) after the trauma. At the end of the experiment, spinal cord tissue samples were harvested for pathological evaluation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Regarding tissue MDA and SOD levels after trauma, animals in the AGE group demonstrated decreased MDA levels and increased SOD levels when compared with the SCI group. However, these results were no better than in the control group. The AGE group demonstrated better pathological findings than the SCI group. The result regarding the functional finding was similar.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AGE demonstrated neuroprotective effects in SCI. Further studies with different experimental settings are required to achieve conclusive results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Fatih University, Ankara, Turkey. berker5@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Berker
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cemil
authors.forename: Emre Cemal
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Gökce
authors.forename: Hüsamettin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Erdamar
authors.forename: Ayça
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karabörk
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Onur
authors.forename: Aylin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heper Okcu
authors.forename: Ramazan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yiğitoğlu
authors.forename: Bülent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Erdoğan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005737:Garlic / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D008315:Malondialdehyde / Q000032:analysis*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts; D008315:Malondialdehyde; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase