THERAPEUTIC VALUE OF 21-AMINOSTEROID U74389F IN ACUTE SPINAL-CORD INJURY

The effect of bolus injections of 21-aminosteroid U74389F after an acu te spinal cord compression trauma in rats was studied. Cortical somato sensory evoked potentials (CSEPs) were recorded before and after a wei ght-induced injury of 120 g and monitored up to five hours post-injury . All U74389F treatments were given as i.v. bolus injections of 15, 7. 5, and 3.75 mg kg-1 at 1, 2, 3 h after the trauma, respectively. The C SEPs were abolished immediately after the injury in the control and tr eated animals. The majority of the treated animals (88.8%) demonstrate d a return of the CSEPs within the second hour post-injury. In contras t, the animals in the control group showed only 44.4% recovery at this time period. At three hours post-injury, U74389F-treated animals (n = 18) showed a full recovery (100%) while the recovery rate remained at 44.4% for the control animals. We conclude that the bolus administrat ion of U74389F one hour after injury facilitates the return of the spi nal cord function as measured by the CSEPs in this compression model o f acute spinal cord trauma.