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The effect of glutamine on rat skeletal muscle composition following acute spinal cord injury

Year: 2005
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Primary spinal cord injury (SCI) results from direct mechanical damage to the spinal cord.The resulting pathochemical and pathophysiological events, including oxidative stress and inflammation, lead to secondary injury.The ability to decrease secondary injury may lead to improved recovery.Increasing glutathione production after SCI leads to decreased secondary injury.Glutamine is an important precursor to glutathione following trauma.Skeletal muscle phenotype is strongly influenced by neuromuscular activity.SCI causes myosin heavy chain (MyHC) profiles to shift towards faster isoforms in slow muscles and slower isoforms in fast muscles.The hypothesis was that glutamine, as a precursor of glutathione, administration to SCI rats would lead to better functional recovery and a more preserved MyHC phenotype in locomotory muscles.Rats were assigned to one of four groups; healthy, laminectomy only, untreated SCI, and SCI treated with an intraperitoneal injection of 1mmol/kg glutamine every 12 hours for one week after injury.SCIs were perfomed at T6 with a modified aneurism clip.Functional recovery was measured weekly using the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan scale and the angle board method.Six weeks later, all rats were killed, and their extensor digitorum longus and soleus muscles excised and weighed.MyHC composition of the muscles was determined using SDS-PAGE.The hypothesis that glutamine treatment following SCI would lead to better functional recovery and a more preserved MyHC profile was validated.Glutamine treated rats received significantly higher BBB scores (p<0.01) and angle board scores (p<0.001)than untreated SCI rats.Glutamine treatment also reduces muscle atrophy in I would like to thank the following people as well; Dr. Doug Syme from the
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W200190644
Cites: 117
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Related to: 10