Silicone rubber microangiography of injured acute spinal cord after treatment with methylprednisolone and vitamin E in rats

Study Design. An experimental study of changes in the microvasculature of t he injured spinal cord that occur with methylprednisolone and vitamin E tre atment. Objective. To determine the effect of treatment with the methylprednisolone and vitamin E on the microvasculature of the traumatized spinal cord. Summary of Background Data. Silicon rubber microangiography provided an exc ellent three-dimensional method for defining the distribution of vasculatur e in untreated and treated rats after injury. Therefore, silicone rubber mi croangiography was helpful for elucidating the pathophysiology of posttraum atic ischemia and hemorrhages in the spinal cord. Methods. In this study, 30 adult rats underwent laminectomy between C7 and T2 followed by extradural spinal cord clipping to produce the compression i njury. A control group of 10 rats was left untreated, and 10 rats were trea ted with methylprednisolone (30 mg/kg bolus and 5.4 mg per hour for 24 hour s). Another 10 rats were treated with methylprednisolone and vitamin E (100 U/kg per day). The animals were killed 4, 24, or 48 hours after injury. Si licon rubber microangiography was performed after injury to assess the vasc ulature of rats' spinal cord. Spinal cord injury causes rapid elevation of noradrenalin, adrenaline, and dopamine. Venous blood samples were taken fro m all animals before the silicone rubber microangiography was performed. Results. The compression of the spinal cord followed by postinjury treatmen t with the methylprednisolone and combination methylprednisolone and vitami n E resulted in a ischemic area smaller than that in the untreated group. A drenaline, noradrenalin, and dopamine levels were less than those in the un treated group. Conclusions. Findings showed that the addition of vitamin E to the methylpr ednisolone treatment made no difference in the extent of the ischemic area as compared with methylprednisolone treatment given alone. However, the sta tistical analysis did not show a significant difference between the treated and untreated groups.