TY - JOUR
T1 - Creatine diet supplement for spinal cord injury
T2 - Influences on functional recovery and tissue sparing in rats
AU - Rabchevsky, Alexander G.
AU - Sullivan, Patrick G.
AU - Fugaccia, Isabella
AU - Scheff, Stephen W.
PY - 2003/7/1
Y1 - 2003/7/1
N2 - Creatine-supplemented diet significantly attenuates cortical damage after traumatic brain injury in rodents. The protective mechanism likely involves maintenance of mitochondrial homeostasis. In the present study, we used two separate contusion spinal cord injury (SCI) instruments - the NYU device and the PSI Infinite Horizon (IH) impactor® - to assess the efficacy of creatine-supplemented diets on hind limb functional recovery and tissue sparing in adult rats. Rats were fed control versus 2% creatine-supplemented chow for 4-5 weeks prior to SCI (pre-fed), after which most resumed a control diet while some remained on a 2% creatine diet (pre & post-fed). Following long-term behavioral analysis (BBB), the amount of spared spinal cord tissue among the dietary regimen groups was assessed using stereology. Comparatively, both instruments caused similar amounts of gray matter damage while the NYU device rendered a greater loss of white matter, reflected in more severe hind limb functional deficits than with the IH impactor. Relative to the control fed groups injured with either instrument, none of the creatine fed animals showed improvements in hind limb function or white matter tissue sparing. Although creatine did not attenuate gray matter loss in the NYU cohort, it significantly spared gray matter in the IH cohort with pre-fed and pre & post-fed regimens. Such selective sparing of injured spinal cord gray matter with a dietary supplement yields a promising strategy to promote neuroprotection after SCI. The relationship between the efficacy of creatine and the magnitude of the insults is discussed.
AB - Creatine-supplemented diet significantly attenuates cortical damage after traumatic brain injury in rodents. The protective mechanism likely involves maintenance of mitochondrial homeostasis. In the present study, we used two separate contusion spinal cord injury (SCI) instruments - the NYU device and the PSI Infinite Horizon (IH) impactor® - to assess the efficacy of creatine-supplemented diets on hind limb functional recovery and tissue sparing in adult rats. Rats were fed control versus 2% creatine-supplemented chow for 4-5 weeks prior to SCI (pre-fed), after which most resumed a control diet while some remained on a 2% creatine diet (pre & post-fed). Following long-term behavioral analysis (BBB), the amount of spared spinal cord tissue among the dietary regimen groups was assessed using stereology. Comparatively, both instruments caused similar amounts of gray matter damage while the NYU device rendered a greater loss of white matter, reflected in more severe hind limb functional deficits than with the IH impactor. Relative to the control fed groups injured with either instrument, none of the creatine fed animals showed improvements in hind limb function or white matter tissue sparing. Although creatine did not attenuate gray matter loss in the NYU cohort, it significantly spared gray matter in the IH cohort with pre-fed and pre & post-fed regimens. Such selective sparing of injured spinal cord gray matter with a dietary supplement yields a promising strategy to promote neuroprotection after SCI. The relationship between the efficacy of creatine and the magnitude of the insults is discussed.
KW - Neuroprotection
KW - Rat
KW - Stereology
KW - Treatment
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U2 - 10.1089/089771503322144572
DO - 10.1089/089771503322144572
M3 - Article
C2 - 12908927
AN - SCOPUS:0042804970
SN - 0897-7151
VL - 20
SP - 659
EP - 669
JO - Journal of Neurotrauma
JF - Journal of Neurotrauma
IS - 7
ER -