The potential role of
Iloprost, a stable analogue of prostocyclin, in treating
spinal cord ischemia was investigated in rabbits subjected to aortic occlusion for 15 minutes. Ten adult rabbits weighing 2-2.5 kg received an
intravenous infusion of saline (SF) as a control group and 14 rabbits received an
intravenous infusion of
Iloprost, 25 microg/kg/h.
Iloprost infusion was started immediately after clamping of the aorta and continued 60 minutes thereafter. Cortical somatosensorial evoked potentials (CSEP) were recorded during the pre-ischemic period as a baseline and post-ischemic readings were taken at 15, 30 and 60 minutes. There was no statistically significant difference between CSEP of the saline and
Iloprost treated groups (p < 0.05). All animals were examined neurologically by using a modification of Tarlov scale and all subjects were then deeply anesthetized and their spinal cords were removed for light and electron microscopic examinations at 24 h after
spinal cord ischemia. In order to obtain an accurate comparison of ultrastructural changes between saline treated and
Iloprost treated groups, a grading scale was performed. The light microscopic and ultrastructural analysis of the
Iloprost treated group revealed that there was moderate protection of the myelin and axons and
edema was attenuated. Findings of this study suggest that
Iloprost exerts a protective effect on
spinal cord ischemia. However, further studies are needed to reveal possible mechanisms of protection provided by
Iloprost.