Studies in experimental spinal cord trauma

✓ The authors report a study of levels of norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA), and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in the traumatized spinal cords of dogs, and with alpha-mehtyltyrosine before and after injury. There was a significant elevation of DA 15 to 45 minutes after injury. NE was significantly reduced. Twenty-four hours of pretreatment with alpha-methyltyrosine depleted cord catecholamines and prevented trauma-induced DA elevation. Alpha-methyltyrosine given 15 minutes after the trauma did not prevent this trauma-related DA elevation. In a small pilot study in cats, DA was elevated and NE remained essentially normal.