Effect of methylprednisolone in medullar injury in rats: a functional and histological analysis

Abstract

The pharmacological effects of the methylprednisolone in the treatment of the spinal cord lesion, have been researched. An experimental study was performed with twelve wistar rats subjected to a contusion lesion of the spinal cord, by the NYU system. The rats were divided in two groups; the MP group which received the methylprednisolone after the contusion lesion and the control group, which received a 0,9% physiological serum. An analysis of the recuperation of the functional movement of the rats was accomplished on the 2nd, 7th and 14th day after the contusion, utilizing the BBB test. On the fourteenth day the rats were sacrificed and the histological findings of the spinal cord lesion were analyzed. It was noted that the rats from the MP group exhibited an improvement in the recuperation of their functional movement compared to that of the control group, and the histological findings of the spinal cord lesion couldn't be correlated with the recuperation of their functional movement.