Beneficial action of glucocorticoid treatment on neuromuscular transmission during early motor nerve degeneration

The effects of a short-term, high-dose glucocorticoid pretreatment regimen (triamcinolone diacetate, 8 mg/kg i.m. daily for 7 days) were examined on neuromuscular transmission deficits observed in the in vivo cat soleus nerve-muscle preparation at 48 h after soleus nerve transection. The pretreated preparations had 20% more functional motor nerve terminals than the untreated. This was evidenced by a significantly (P < 0.01) lesser difference in the indirectly evoked isometric contractile tensions between the denervated muscle and the contralateral intact preparation as a result of prior glucocorticoid treatment. The glucocorticoid pretreatment also significantly improved the capacity of the trophically deprived soleus motor nerve terminals to maintain transmission during high-frequency activation (100 to 400 Hz for 10 s). Moreover, triamcinolone treatment before nerve transection completely prevented the development of an increased sensitivity to d-tubocuranine neuromuscular block in untreated, 48-h nerve-transected preparations. These results demonstrate an ability of an intensive high-dose glucovorticoid treatment to sustain single and repetitive neuromuscular transmission during early anterograde nerve degeneration.