The efficacy of alpha-tocopherol in functional recovery of spinal cord injured rats: an experimental study

• Published in: Spinal cord 2009-09, Vol.47 (9), p.662-667
• Main Authors: Al Jadid, M S I, Robert, A, Al-Mubarak, S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: alpha-Tocopherol - pharmacology; alpha-Tocopherol - therapeutic use; Anatomy; Animals; Antioxidants - pharmacology; Antioxidants - therapeutic use; Behavior, Animal - drug effects; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Body Weight - drug effects; Cerebrospinal fluid. Meninges. Spinal cord; Disease Models, Animal; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Female; Human Physiology; Injuries of the nervous system and the skull. Diseases due to physical agents; Medical sciences; Movement - drug effects; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurochemistry; Neurology; Neuropsychology; Neurosciences; original-article; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Recovery of Function - drug effects; Spinal Cord Injuries - drug therapy; Spinal Cord Injuries - physiopathology; Time Factors; Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents
• ISSN: 1362-4393; 1476-5624
• DOI: 10.1038/sc.2009.22

Objective: The objective of this study is to examine the effects of the alpha-tocopherol on rats with spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: Research Center, Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Method: Female Sprague–Dawley rats weighing 180–220 g were anesthetized with chloral hydrate (450 mg kg −1 body weight) by intraperitoneal injection and laminectomy was performed at the T 7–8 level leaving the dura intact. A compression plate (2.2 × 5.0 mm) was loaded with a weight of 35 g placed on the exposed cord for 5 min to create SCI. The subjects were divided into three groups of eight rats each. Group 1 served as control (SCI+saline); whereas groups 2 and 3 served as test groups, alpha-tocopherol was given orally in doses of 1000 mg kg −1 body weight for group 2 and 2000 mg kg −1 body weight for group 3, respectively. Daily activities were recorded in the activity cage for 14 days post-operatively. Results: At day 1 (baseline, 24 h after the surgery), there was no significant difference between mean motor scores of all groups. After day 1, the three groups showed continuous improvement in motor score; such improvement was maintained throughout the duration of the study with different levels for each group. By the end of the study (day 14), groups 2 and 3 showed statistically significant improvement in the mean motor score compared with group 1 ( P