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      Epidemiology, demographics, and pathophysiology of acute spinal cord injury.

      Spine
      Age Factors, Female, Health Care Costs, Humans, Incidence, Male, Methylprednisolone, therapeutic use, Neuroprotective Agents, Prevalence, Prognosis, Risk Factors, Spinal Cord Injuries, drug therapy, epidemiology, etiology, physiopathology

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          Abstract

          Spinal cord injury occurs through various countries throughout the world with an annual incidence of 15 to 40 cases per million, with the causes of these injuries ranging from motor vehicle accidents and community violence to recreational activities and workplace-related injuries. Survival has improved along with a greater appreciation of patterns of presentation, survival, and complications. Despite much work having been done, the only treatment to date known to ameliorate neurologic dysfunction that occurs at or below the level of neurologic injury has been intravenous methylprednisolone therapy. Much research over the past 30 to 40 years has focused on elucidating the mechanisms of spinal cord injury, with the complex pathophysiologic processes slowly being unraveled. With a greater understanding of both primary and secondary mechanisms of injury, the roles of calcium, free radicals, sodium, excitatory amino acids, vascular mediators, and apoptosis have been elucidated. This review examines the epidemiology, demographics, and pathophysiology of acute spinal cord injury.

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          Most cited references108

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          Neuronal and glial apoptosis after traumatic spinal cord injury.

          Cell death was examined by studying the spinal cords of rats subjected to traumatic insults of mild to moderate severity. Within minutes after mild weight drop impact (a 10 gm weight falling 6.25 mm), neurons in the immediate impact area showed a loss of cytoplasmic Nissl substances. Over the next 7 d, this lesion area expanded and cavitated. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL)-positive neurons were noted primarily restricted to the gross lesion area 4-24 hr after injury, with a maximum presence at 8 hr after injury. TUNEL-positive glia were present at all stages studied between 4 hr and 14 d, with a maximum presence within the lesion area 24 hr after injury. However 7 d after injury, a second wave of TUNEL-positive glial cells was noted in the white matter peripheral to the lesion and extending at least several millimeters away from the lesion center. The suggestion of apoptosis was supported by electron microscopy, as well as by nuclear staining with Hoechst 33342 dye, and by examination of DNA prepared from the lesion site. Furthermore, repeated intraperitoneal injections of cycloheximide, beginning immediately after a 12.5 mm weight drop insult, produced a substantial reduction in histological evidence of cord damage and in motor dysfunction assessed 4 weeks later. Present data support the hypothesis that apoptosis dependent on active protein synthesis contributes to the neuronal and glial cell death, as well as to the neurological dysfunction, induced by mild-to-moderate severity traumatic insults to the rat spinal cord.
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            Apoptosis.

            J J Cohen (1993)
            Cell death can be accidental or programmed in a multicellular organism. Evidence supports the proposition that there is a 'suicide program' inherent in vertebrate cells which can be activated when the cell's death is desirable for the good of the rest of the community. The morphology of such death is usually that of apoptosis, rather than of necrosis. Here, John Cohen describes the changes of apoptosis, and discusses progress on the identification of regulatory mechanisms and genes.
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              Activation and cleavage of caspase-3 in apoptosis induced by experimental cerebral ischemia.

              We examined the expression, activation, and cellular localization of caspase-3 (CPP32) using immunohistochemistry, immunoblots, and cleavage of the fluorogenic substrate N-benzyloxycarbonyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-7-amino-4-trifluoromethyl coumarin (zDEVD-afc) in adult mouse brain after temporary (2 hr) middle cerebral artery occlusion produced by filament insertion into the carotid artery. Immunoreactive caspase-3p32 but not its cleavage product caspase-3p20 was constitutively expressed in neurons throughout brain and was most prominent in neuronal perikarya within piriform cortex. Caspase-like enzyme activity was elevated in brain homogenate 0-3 hr after reperfusion and reached a peak within 30 to 60 min. Caspase-3p20 immunoreactivity became prominent in neuronal perikarya within the middle cerebral artery territory at the time of reperfusion and on immunoblots 1-12 hr later. DNA laddering (agarose gels) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick-end labeling (TUNEL)-stained cells were detected 6-24 hr after reperfusion. At 12-24 hr, immunoreactive p20 was visualized in TUNEL-positive cells, a finding also observed in apoptotic mouse cerebellar granule cells on postnatal day 5. Together, these observations suggest the existence of a time-dependent evolution of ischemic injury characterized by the close correspondence between caspase-like enzyme activation and an associated increase in immunoreactive product (caspase-3p20) beginning at or before reperfusion and followed several hours later by morphological and biochemical features of apoptosis.
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