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Volume 17, Number 11,
Issue of June 1, 1997
pp. 4359-4366
Copyright ©1997 Society for Neuroscience
Local Blockade of Sodium Channels by Tetrodotoxin Ameliorates
Tissue Loss and Long-Term Functional Deficits Resulting from
Experimental Spinal Cord Injury
Received Jan. 21, 1997; revised March 20, 1997; accepted March 25, 1997.
Yang Dong Teng and
Jean R. Wrathall
Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology Division, Georgetown
University, Washington, D.C. 20007
Although relatively little is known of the mechanisms involved in
secondary axonal loss after spinal cord injury (SCI), recent data from
in vitro models of white matter (WM) injury have
implicated abnormal sodium influx as a key event. We hypothesized that
blockade of sodium channels after SCI would reduce WM loss and
long-term functional deficits. To test this hypothesis, a sufficient
and safe dose (0.15 nmol) of the potent Na+ channel blocker
tetrodotoxin (TTX) was determined through a dose-response study. We
microinjected TTX or vehicle (VEH) into the injury site at 15 min after
a standardized contusive SCI in the rat. Behavioral tests were
performed 1 d after injury and weekly thereafter. Quantitative histopathology at 8 weeks postinjury showed that TTX treatment significantly reduced tissue loss at the injury site, with greater effect on sparing of WM than gray matter. TTX did not change the pattern of chronic histopathology typical of this SCI model, but restricted its extent, tripled the area of residual WM at the epicenter, and reduced the average length of the lesions. Serotonin immunoreactivity caudal to the epicenter, a marker for descending motor
control axons, was nearly threefold that of VEH controls. The increase
in WM at the epicenter was significantly correlated with the decrease
in functional deficits. The TTX group exhibited a significantly
enhanced recovery of coordinated hindlimb functions, more normal
hindlimb reflexes, and earlier establishment of a reflex bladder. The
results demonstrate that Na+ channels play a critical role
in WM loss in vivo after SCI.
Key words:
rat;
spinal cord injury;
sodium channel;
tetrodotoxin;
white matter injury;
motor function;
histopathology
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