Journal of Anesthesiology and Pain Research

Methylprednisolone Administration

Abstract

Khuong Lahn

Methylprednisolone is a synthetic glucocorticoid steroid that was created to have better anti-inflammatory and mineralocorticoid activity than cortisol, the prototype glucocorticoid steroid (hydrocortisone). As a glucocorticoid or antiinflammatory medication, methylprednisolone is about four times as effective as hydrocortisone, with around 0.8 times the amount of mineralocorticoid. Methylprednisolone also has a longer action time than hydrocortisone, with a plasma half-life of 2.5 hours compared to 1.5 hours for hydrocortisone. In the current treatment of MS, methylprednisolone is particularly crucial in the acute phase of recurrence. It reduces the inflammatory cycle in a variety of ways, including dampening the inflammatory cytokine cascade, inhibiting T cell activation, decreasing immune cell extravasation into the central nervous system, facilitating apoptosis of activated immune cells, and indirectly decreasing the cytotoxic effects of nitric oxide and TNF-a. As more information about these systems becomes available, it may become possible to develop therapy regimens that are better tailored to the individual as well as the disease state. The only effective neuroprotective drug studied in controlled multicentre clinical trials is high-dose methylprednisolone, as suggested by the National Acute Spinal Cord Injury Studies (NASCIS-2 and NASCIS-3). Methylprednisolone was studied as a lipid peroxidation inhibitor, with the goal of reducing posttraumatic degenerative alterations in the damaged spinal cord. However, several researchers and physicians have questioned the usefulness of methylprednisolone for the treatment of acute traumatic SCI due to inconsistent experimental data and the relatively tiny neurological benefits shown in humans