Therapeutic Hypothermia Following Traumatic Spinal Injury Morphological and Functional Correlates
Abstract
The primary objective of experiments carried out during the third year focused on determining the behavioral and morphological effects of systemic hyperthermia following moderate spinal cord injury. In these experiments moderate hyperthermia (39.5-40.0 C) was initiated 30 minutes post-injury for a period of four hours. Two days post-injury we initiated the behavioral assessment of locomotor function. In anticipation of future therapeutic applications of combined hypothermia and pharmacological treatment protocols, a second purpose of experiments during the third year was to complete our evaluation of the effects of the NMDA antagonist and inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase inhibitor agmatine on morphological and behavioral outcome measures following traumatic spinal cord injury. The major findings of these studies have shown that significant differences are observed in the behavioral and morphological assessment scores of animals undergoing hyperthermia compared to animals receiving normothermic treatment. Similarly, significant differences were observed following systemic administration of agmatine for 14 days post-injury. Overall, the results support the original hypothesis of this proposal that whole body hyperthermia is capable of producing detrimental effects on functional recovery following traumatic spinal cord injury. Future studies to be carried out during the no cost extension year include evaluating the effects of long term (8 hours) hypothermia on behavioral outcome measures, an evaluation of combination therapy involving hypothermia and the anti- inflammatory cytokine IL- 10, and an evaluation of the physiological basis of functional recovery following systemic hypothermia.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA380236
Entities
People
- Robert P. Yezierski
Organizations
- University of Miami