The potential role of Iloprost, a stable analogue of prostocyclin, in treat
ing spinal cord ischemia was investigated in rabbits subjected to aortic oc
clusion for 15 minutes. Ten adult rabbits weighing 2-2.5 kg received an int
ravenous infusion of saline (SF) as a control group and 14 rabbits received
an intravenous infusion of Iloprost, 25 mug/kg/h. Iloprost infusion was st
arted immediately after clamping of the aorta and continued 60 minutes ther
eafter. Cortical somatosensorial evoked potentials (CSEP) were recorded dur
ing the pre-ischemic period as a baseline and post-ischemic readings were t
aken at 15, 30 and 60 minutes. There was no statistically significant diffe
rence between CSEP of the saline and Iloprost treated groups (p < 0.05). Al
l animals were examined neurologically by using a modification of Tarlov sc
ale and all subjects were then deeply anesthetized and their spinal cords w
ere removed for light and electron microscopic examinations at 24 h after s
pinal cord ischemia. In order to obtain an accurate comparison of ultrastru
ctural changes between saline treated and Iloprost treated groups, a gradin
g scale was performed. The light microscopic and ultrastructural analysis o
f the Iloprost treated group revealed that there was moderate protection of
the myelin and axons and edema was attenuated Findings of this study sugge
st that Iloprost exerts a protective effect on spinal cord ischemia. Howeve
r, Further studies are needed to reveal possible mechanisms of protection p
rovided by Iloprost.