Spinal cord injuries

Commonly prescribed antibiotic could be used to prevent paralysis and spinal injury.

Researchers have found that a commonly prescribed antibiotic could be used to help prevent paralysis and other long-term functional deficits associated with a partial spinal cord injury (SCI).

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Children's Hospital Boston (CHB) reveals that administering the antibiotic, minocycline, to rats within the first hour after a paralyzing injury has been shown to reduce tissue loss and ultimately enable more hind-leg function.

It also enables the patient to walk with more coordination, better foot posture and stepping, and better support of body weight than untreated controls.

The BWH/CHB researchers found that minocycline reduces later-stage tissue loss by blocking release of a protein known as mitochondrial cytochrome c.

Dr Yang D Teng of the joint BWH/CHB neurosurgery program and co-lead author of the study, notes that other experimental agents can prevent later-stage tissue loss, but must be given immediately after or even before SCI to be effective.

"These research results are exciting in that they demonstrate a novel post-trauma strategy in the form of a safe, FDA-approved drug that could serve as a prototype drug for developing better therapeutic strategies to improve quality of life for people suffering from spinal cord injuries," said Teng.

"Because minocycline has already been proven as an effective neuroprotector and is capable of penetrating the blood-brain barrier, we believe that it may become the next-generation therapy for treating SCI," said Dr Robert M Friedlander, co-lead author of the study.