J Korean Acad Rehabil Med.  2006 Aug;30(4):333-339.

Neuroprotective Effect of Exogenous Growth Hormone in Brain Injury-Rat Model

• Yang HS
• Chun MH
• Kim DK
• Kim ST
• Jo HJ

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the neuroprotective effect of growth hormone (GH) following lateral fluid percussion brain injury. METHOD: Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 200~250 g were subjected to moderate lateral fluid percussion brain injury and evaluated at 1, 7, 14 and 28 days post-injury. Rats were divided into control and GH pretreatment groups. GH (10 microgram/10microliter) or normal saline (10microgram/10microliter) was administered by intracerebro-ventricular injection 30 min before brain injury. We measured histopathological changes with TUNEL and toluidine blue Nissl stain and conducted motor function tests and an 8-arm radial maze test to identify neurobehavioral deficits and cognitive deficits, respectively, at one day to 4 weeks post-injury.
RESULTS
In the pretreated GH group, a significant reduction in TUNEL-positive cells was found compared with the control group at 1 day and 1 week post-injury (p<0.05). The pretreated GH group showed significantly greater improvement than controls motor function tests at 1 day post-injury (p<0.05) and in an 8-arm radial maze test at 2 and 4 weeks post-injury (p<0.05).
CONCLUSION
These findings suggested that GH had a neuroprotective effect in neuronal cell death, motor function and cognitive deficits following experimental brain injury.

Keyword

Growth hormone; Traumatic brain injury; Motor function test; Maze test

MeSH Terms

Animals
Brain Injuries
Brain*
Cell Death
Growth Hormone*
In Situ Nick-End Labeling
Neurons
Neuroprotective Agents*
Percussion
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Tolonium Chloride
Growth Hormone
Neuroprotective Agents
Tolonium Chloride