Turkish Neurosurgery 2006 , Vol 16 , Num 1
The Use of Methylprednisolone, Vitamin E and Their Combination in Acute Spinal Cord Injury: An Experimental Study
Merih İŞ1, Mustafa Onur ULU2, Taner TANRIVERDİ2, Hakan YILDIZ1, Fevzullah AKYÜZ1, Aylin AKSOY2, Ferruh GEZEN1, Mustafa UZAN3
1Department of Neurosurgery, Duzce Medical Faculty, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Duzce, Turkey
2Department of Neurosurgery, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
3Department of Pathology, Duzce Medical Faculty, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Duzce, Turkey
OBJECTIVE: The effects of methyprednisolone (MP) and Vitamin E (Vit E) combination treatment was investigated in an experimental spinal cord injury model in rats.

METHOD: Thirty-one rats were randomly divided into the five following groups: control group, MP group, Vit E group, MP+Vit E group and sham operated group. A spinal cord injury was produced in the rats by using a compression injury model at the T8 vertebra level for 10 minutes. MP was injected as a 30 mg/kg IV bolus, 1 hour after the injury, followed by an infusion of 5.4 mg/kg for 23 hours. Vit E was administered as a 30 mg/kg IV bolus at the posttraumatic 1st, 7th , 13th and 19th hours. The sham group underwent laminectomy without spinal cord compression and did not receive medication. The animals were sacrificed at the posttraumatic 48th hour and histopathological examination was performed in a blinded fashion for the following criteria: hemorrhage, necrosis, edema, microcyst, microglia proliferation and PMNL infiltration.

RESULTS: The pathology evaluation of the groups revealed that the MP+Vit E combination treatment impeded the progress of edema/microcyst formation, microglia proliferation, and necrosis.

CONCLUSION: Vit E, when combined with MP for spinal cord injury treatment, augments the effect of MP probably due to its antioxidant effects. Keywords : Lipid peroxidation, Methylprednisolone, Spinal cord injury, Vitamin E

Corresponding author : Taner Tanrıverdi, tanerato2000@yahoo.com