Lecture 23- Spinal injury Flashcards
What are the disturbances that arise from spinal cord injury (SCI)?
- Loss of ability to control bowel function
- Paradoxical nocturnal hypertension resulting in nocturnal diuresis
- Hypotensive episodes on moving to an upright position
- Paroxysmal hypertensive episodes (blood pressure goes up instead of down, large excursions of blood pressure that cannot be control)
- Autonomic Dysreflexia
- Persistent, abnormal and recurrent urinary tract infection
- Loss of urinary continence
- Loss of sexual function
- (Sleep apnea and disturbed sleep)
What is the main cause of morbidity in people with SCIs?
-Autonomic dysfunctions represent the primary causes of morbidity and mortality following SCI
Where are the autonomic control centres and what happens when SCI occurs?
- in the spinal cord are disconnected from the medulla, pons and cortex
- most of the injuries around the neck
- young men, drive too fast etc. 18-25
How common is bowel dysfunction following and SCI?
- 86% of people with SCI have problems with bowel control
- The daily problem has two parts:
- The bowel cannot be emptied at will – the person is constipated
And
- If there are feces in the bowel they can and will be released spontaneously -they cannot control when the bowl is emptied and then overflows and is released spontaneously
- If the bowel could be emptied in the morning the patient could go about daily life without there being a reservoir of feces threatening to be released
What are the defecation circuits?
- you can control defecation consciously through cortical control
- lower brain stem
- two pathways= inhibiting and facilitating pathways= similar to bladder control
- these pathways impinge on the defecation centre lumbarsacral spinal region L5-S2
- few people have injuries at that levels so most people have that damaged
- ghrelin receptors function there -then through pelvic nerves and into the enetric reflex pathways
What is ghrelin?
- Ghrelin is a 28 Amino-acid Octanoylated peptide
- The largest source of Ghrelin is the stomach
- Plasma ghrelin increases with time after a meal and drops quickly after meal ingestion
- Its best established roles are stimulation of eating and promotion of growth hormone release
- It has been recently discovered that ghrelin activates some autonomic preganglionic neurons
- Ghrelin receptor agonists stimulate the spinal cord defecation centre
- it is a hormone
- stimulates apetite, hunger hormone= more of it= hungry
What is the effect of the ghrelin receptor agonist, CP464709, on fecal pellet output in the conscious rat?
-put ghrelin in and makes them shit
Does the ghrelin receptor agonist act in the central nervous system?
- The ghrelin receptor agonist acts in the central nervous system
- Effect of cutting the spinal nerves between the lumbo-sacral cord and the colorectum on the effect of the ghrelin receptor agonist
What prevents the effect of ghrelin agonist?
-Effect of the ghrelin receptor agonist is prevented by blocking autonomic ganglia with hexamethonium (C6)
Where are the ghrelin receptors located?
- in the interomediolateral column
- in the interomediolateral column that is where the Grelin receptors are
What are the sites of ghrelin agonist activity?
-
How do you prove the theoretical principle?
- create SCI in rats and test the effects
- Conclusion: The spinal lesion removed autonomic descending inputs to vasoconstrictor pathways
- confirmation of lesion effect: cardiovascular changes after SCI
- The spinal lesion removed autonomic descending inputs to vasoconstrictor pathways
Is the ghrelin receptor agonist effective after CSI in the rat?
-yes
What is the human trial with ghrelin?
- Following animal proof of principle
- The Human Trial: Conducted at Austin Health Open label, ascending dose trial to determine safety and drug handling/ availability in people living with SCI, compared to uninjured controls
- Limited dose range and confined to paraplegics to assure safety
- 6 people with SCI, 10 uninjured controls
- Pharmacokinetic profile – 30 min to 12 h. Follow up at 4 weeks
- Monitor blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, fecal output
- 12 lead ECG
- Full blood and urine analysis
How did the human trial go?
- Summary: No adverse effects
- Body Temperature and pulse rate -No changes
- Electrocardiogram: No events
- Blood: No evidence of any changes in blood cells, blood chemistry or liver function
- Urine: No changes
- Physical examination: No change
- Defecation Time to defecation after capromorelin: 89 +/- 32 min (mean, standard deviation)