Changes in phospholipids and acetylcholinesterase during early phase of injury to spinal cord--an experimental study in rats.

Injury to spinal cord was produced in rats by the clip compression technique by placing the aneurysm clip extradurally for 30 seconds. The traumatised spinal segment and the adjoining upper segment were used for biochemical estimations. Motor function of the injured rats was evaluated using the inclined plane. Phospholipid phosphorus values were significantly decreased in the injured spinal segment at 24 hrs. AchE activity was also decreased in the traumatised segment one week after injury. Dexamethasone and verapamil reversed the changes in AchE activity at the end of one week. At the one week assessment period, aneurysm clipped rats showed a decrease in the maximum angle in the inclined plane. Dexamethasone and verapamil treated rats showed improvement in the neurologic function, neurologic recovery was better in the dexamethasone treated group.

Evaluation of drug effects on spinal cord injury--an experimental study in monkeys.

Contusion injury is produced experimentally in anaesthetised monkeys by weight drop method. A group of animals having laminectomy alone served as sham controls. Drugs were administered 30 min after injury initially. Naloxone and nifedipine were administered as single dose administration immediately after injury. Dipyridamole and DMSO were administered daily for a period of 1 week. Acetylcholinesterase (AchE) was estimated in 2 spinal tissue segments, S1-at the site of injury and S2-the segment above the site of injury, at the end of 1 week after sacrificing the animals. Contusion injury produced significant decrease in specific activity of AchE in the traumatised segment of the experimental animals. The non-traumatised adjacent segment did not show any significant change. Nifedipine, naloxone and DMSO produced a decrease in AchE activity in S1 and S2 segments. Monkeys developed paraplegia after contusion injury. A score 2+ was observed after 1 week as compared to the score of 4+ of sham controls. Single dose administration of naloxone seemed to reverse the motor deficit by getting a score of 3+; other drugs did not produce any beneficial effect on motor deficit.

Change in acetylcholinesterase during early phase of experimental spinal cord trauma in primates.

Specific activity of acetylcholinesterase has been shown to be decreased following experimental spinal cord trauma (200 gcm) in primates. The decrease in activity was evident at 8, 24, 48 hr and 1 week after injury to the traumatized segments of spinal cord.

Changes in noradrenaline and histamine in monkey spinal cords traumatised by weight drop, compression and subsequent decompression.

Levels of noradrenaline (NA) and histamine (H) in the spinal cord of monkeys at 8, 24 and 48 hr following 200 g/cm contusion injury, 50 g of compression injury at 8 hr and decompression for 16 and 40 hr following 8 hr of compression were studied in the traumatised and in an adjacent non-traumatised segment. The NA level doubled in the traumatised and non-traumatised segments at 8 hr contusion injury followed by a slow decline to control values at 24 and 48 hr of contusion injury. There was no change in NA content of the spinal cord segments at 8 hr of compression injury. Decompression for 16 hr following 8 hr of compression increased NA content of the traumatised segment. H levels decreased in the traumatised and non-traumatised segments at 24 and 48 hr of contusion injury. Compression for 8 hr elevated H in the traumatised and non-traumatised segments. On decompression H level was further increased in the traumatised segment.