Intrathecal methylprednisolone does not improve outcome after severe spinal cord injury in the rat

In a rat model of spinal cord compression-induced injury, we have tested the hypothesis that intrathecally administered methylprednisolone will improve long-term recovery of the injured rats. The effect of the treatment was evaluated quantitatively as 1, behavioral testing of spontaneous locomotion and 2, morphometric measurement of the tissue loss in the white matter and grey matter, respectively. Intrathecal methylprednisolone elicited remarkable motor reactions in the paraplegic animals immediately after administration. However, during 4 weeks' survival, no significant differences were observed in the parameters of recovery between the methylprednisolone-treated and placebo-treated group. We conclude that intrathecal administration of methylprednisolone had no effect on the outcome after compressive spinal cord injury in the rat at the doses and timing used in the present study.