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Published on: December 17, 2014
Effects of citicoline on experimental spinal cord injury
Ertugrul Cakir1, Haydar Usul, Bekircan Peksoylu
1Department of Neurosurgery, Karadeniz Technical University, School of Medicine, Trabzon, Turkey. ecakir@meds.ktu.edu.tr
Objective:
To investigate the effects of citicoline on experimental spinal cord injury (SCI).
Background:
Citicoline has been successfully used in clinical studies of head injury and cerebral infarction, but there is limited literature regarding its use in experimental SCI.
Study Design:
Twenty adult Wistar rats were divided into four groups: sham, trauma, vehicle, and citicoline-treated. SCI was produced using a weight drop technique. Citicoline 300 mg/kg was given intraperitoneally, 5 minutes after the induction of trauma. The animals were sacrificed and 1 cm long samples of injured spinal cord were obtained at 48 hours post-SCI. Lipid peroxidation was estimated by the thiobarbituric acid test. Neurological examinations were performed using a previously described grading scale.
Results:
Measures of lipid peroxidation and motor scores of the citicoline-treated group were significantly lower than those in the other injury groups.
Conclusions:
Citicoline attenuated lipid peroxidation after SCI and improved the motor scores. Further investigations will be required to determine the long-term effects of this drug on spinal cord injury.
