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 μg/10μl) or normal saline (10μg/10μl) 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 oneday 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. (J Korean Acad Rehab Med 2006; 30: 333-339)
