Neuroscience letters
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Neuroscience letters · Sep 1999
The effect of riluzole and mannitol on cerebral oedema after cryogenic injury in the mouse.
A cryogenic lesion was produced under halothane anaesthesia in the mouse by placing a cotton swab soaked in liquid nitrogen onto the surface of the cranium. This provoked an oedematous lesion which developed within the hour after the insult and evolved over the following week. ⋯ Repeated doses (2 x 16 mg/kg, i.p.) of riluzole were also able to reduce oedema significantly (24%, P < 0.05) at 24 h post lesion. Riluzole, in four repeated doses of 8 mg/kg i.p. was also able to reduce lesion surface size by 16% (P < 0.05) 48 h after lesion.
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Neuroscience letters · Sep 1999
Comparative StudyDecrease in phantom limb pain associated with prosthesis-induced increased use of an amputation stump in humans.
The experience of phantom limb pain, non-painful phantom limb sensation and telescoping was ascertained by questionnaire in a group of upper extremity amputees wearing a functionally effective Sauerbruch prosthesis which permits extensive use of the affected limb and in a group of patients wearing a cosmetic prosthesis that did little to increase the utilization of the amputation stump. The Sauerbruch prosthesis group exhibited a significant and large decrease in amount of phantom limb pain while the cosmetic prosthesis group showed no change. Neither group experienced a decrease in non-painful phantom limb sensation or telescoping. ⋯ It is possible that the increased use of the amputation stump induced by wearing a Sauerbruch prosthesis produced a countervailing use-dependent, afferent-increase type of cortical reorganization that reversed the phantom limb pain. These preliminary results require replication. Their therapeutic implications are discussed.