title: Effect of methylprednisolone and edaravone administration on spinal cord injury.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most devastating traumatic conditions that primarily affects young males with an annual incidence of 15-40 cases per million.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore the superior neuroprotective effect of edaravone (ED) on spinal cord injury during maintenance therapy compared with methylprednisolone (MP).
  
  
  METHODS
  Sprague-Dawley rat model of spinal cord injury was established by modified Allen's method. Total 114 rats were divided into two groups and then six subgroups individually: A1 (control group, normal saline injection within 8 h), B1 (MP group, MP injection within 8 h), C1(ED group, ED injection within 8 h), A2 (control group, normal saline injection after 8 h), B1 (MP group, MP injection after 8 h), C1 (ED group, ED injection after 8 h). Further, we investigated the changes of histopathology, caspase-3 and Bcl-xL positive cell.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Haemorrhage, swelling, hyperaemia, gliocytes hyperplasia, inflammatory cells infiltration, vacuolar denaturation, and nucleus concentration could be observed, especially in control group. Caspase-3 positive cell was significantly decreased in MP and ED group within 8 h administration, but caspase-3 positive cell was only significantly decreased in ED group after 8 h administration. And B-cell lymphoma extra large (Bcl-xL) was significantly increased in ED group than MP group no matter within 8 h or after 8 h administration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More attention should be paid on the time point of MP administration, and ED administration seem to be more effective for maintenance therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Osteology, the Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, People's Republic of China. panzhangmd@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shun
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000983:Antipyrine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000032:analysis; D000077553:Edaravone; D008775:Methylprednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D051020:bcl-X Protein / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: C494813:Bcl2l1 protein, rat; D051020:bcl-X Protein; D053148:Caspase 3; D000077553:Edaravone; D000983:Antipyrine; D008775:Methylprednisolone