title: Functional and structural recovery of the injured spinal cord in rats treated with gonadotropin-releasing hormone.
abstract: Several studies have shown that gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) have extra-pituitary roles, including neurotrophic effects. This study was to evaluate the effects of GnRH treatment on the spinal cord injury (SCI) of rats. Ovariectomized rats were divided into: sham SCI surgery (Sham), SCI treated with saline solution (SCI + SS), and SCI treated with GnRH (SCI + GnRH). The SCI was induced by compression. One day after the lesion, SCI + GnRH group was injected with GnRH (60 µg/kg/twice/day; i.m.) for 15 days and the other groups with saline solution. To kinematic gait analysis, length and velocity of the stride were measured. In spinal cord, axonal morphometry and spared white and gray matter were analyzed by histochemistry. Protein expression of spinophilin was evaluated by western blot. The results showed that, 5 weeks after the injury, the group of animals treated with GnRH, significantly increased the length and velocity of the stride compared to SCI + SS group and they were similar to Sham group. In spinal cord, GnRH treatment increased the number and caliber of nerve axons and in the case of white matter, spared tissue was significantly higher than those animals treated with saline solution. The expression of spinophilin in spinal cord of SCI + GnRH group was slightly increased with respect to those not treated. In conclusion, GnRH treatment improves recovery of gait and decreases histopathological damage in the injured spinal cord of rat. These findings suggest that GnRH acts as a neurotrophic factor and can be used as a potential therapeutic agent for treatment of SCI.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology, Depto. de Fisiología y Farmacología, Centro de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes, Av. Universidad 940, Col. Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 20131, Aguascalientes, AGS, Mexico.
authors.forename: Denisse
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Calderón-Vallejo
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quintanar-Stephano
authors.forename: Irma
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hernández-Jasso
authors.forename: Violeta
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Hernández
authors.forename: Jannet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Ornelas
authors.forename: Ismael
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Jiménez
authors.forename: J Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Quintanar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D007987:Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000187:drug effects; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D007987:Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone