Effects of progesterone on experimental spinal cord injury

• Published in: Brain research Vol. 1137; no. 1; pp. 146 - 152
• Main Authors: Fee, Dominic B, Swartz, Karin R, Joy, Kelly M, Roberts, Kelly N, Scheff, Nicole N, Scheff, Stephen W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Elsevier B.V 16.03.2007; Amsterdam Elsevier; New York, NY
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Animals; BBB; Biological and medical sciences; Contusion; Disease Models, Animal; Female; Gender; Injuries of the nervous system and the skull. Diseases due to physical agents; Male; Medical sciences; Motor Activity - drug effects; Neurology; Neurotrauma; Progesterone; Progesterone - therapeutic use; Progestins - therapeutic use; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Recovery of Function - drug effects; Sex Factors; Spinal Cord Injuries - drug therapy; Spinal Cord Injuries - pathology; Spinal Cord Injuries - physiopathology; Spinal cord injury; Time Factors; Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents; spinal cord injury; BBB; GM; progesterone; CNS; Contusion; Basso, Beattie, Bresnahan Locomotor Rating Scale; Gender; central nervous system; Neurotrauma; SC; white matter; WM; PG; SCI; grey matter; spinal cord; Progesterone; Spinal cord injury; Spinal cord; Rat; Rodentia; Central nervous system; Sex; Ovarian hormone; Vertebrata; Experimental disease; Mammalia; Animal; Lesion; Sex steroid hormone
• ISSN: 0006-8993; 1872-6240
• DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2006.12.024

Abstract Progesterone has been proposed to be protective to the central nervous system following injury. This study assessed progesterone supplementation in the setting of contusional spinal cord injury in male and female rats. Short-term (5 days of either 4 or 8 mg/kg progesterone) and long-term (14 days of either 8 or 16 mg/kg progesterone) therapy failed to show any significant alteration in locomotor functioning and injury morphometrics after 21 days. This study does not support progesterone as a potential therapeutic agent in spinal cord injury.