Turkish Neurosurgery 2016 , Vol 26 , Num 5
Memantine and Q-VD-OPh Treatments in Experimental Spinal Cord Injury: Combined Inhibition of Necrosis and Apoptosis
Aydin AYDOSELI1, Halil CAN2, Yavuz ARAS1, Pulat Akin SABANCI1, Mehmet Osman AKCAKAYA3, Omer Faruk UNAL1
1Istanbul University, Istanbul School of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery, Istanbul, Turkey
2Medicine Hospital Asia, Department of Neurosurgery, Istanbul, Turkey
3Taksim Training and Research Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery, Istanbul, Turkey
DOI : 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.12999-14.1 AIM: To evaluate the effects of NMDA receptor antagonist memantine and pancaspase inhibitor Q-VD-Oph in combination or alone in experimental spinal cord injury.

MATERIAL and METHODS: 45 male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups. Spinal cord injury was created with the clip compression technique. The drugs were administered either alone of in combination to the subjects according to their groups. Motor function was assessed with Tarlov’s motor grading scale and the inclined plane technique. The subjects were sacrificed at the fifth postoperative day. Histopathological examination was done with the use of hematoxylin eosin and TUNEL staining.

RESULTS: The results for TUNEL staining and apoptotic cell counts revealed statistically significant differences in Q-VD-Oph and combined treatment groups. Tarlov motor grading scale and inclined plane test results were also found significantly better in these two groups.

CONCLUSION: Combined use of memantine and Q-VD-OPh provides better histological and clinical results. The combined inhibition of the two major pathways, necrosis and apoptosis, needs to be further assessed with in-vivo or in-vitro studies. Keywords : Spinal cord injury, Q-VD-OPh, Apoptosis, Memantine, Necrosis, Neuroprotection

Corresponding author : Mehmet Osman Akcakaya, moakcakaya@gmail.com