Effects of acute alcohol intoxication on spinal cord vascular injury.

Previous experimental studies found that acute intoxication may alter the long-term outcome of standardized spinal cord injury resulting in increased spinal cord necrosis and impaired functional recovery. We examined the effects of acute intoxication (blood alcohol concentration of 100 mg/dl) on hemorrhage and axonal conduction three hours after moderate severity spinal cord contusion induced by a constrained stroke pneumatic impactor. The hemorrhagic spinal cord lesion resulting from standardized injury was significantly increased by acute intoxication. Both local hemorrhage at the injury site and rostro-caudal and total extent of hemorrhage were increased. Also, the ability of nerve axons to recover function during the first three hours post-contusion was impaired by intoxication. These findings confirm that increased post-contusion hemorrhage results when spinal cord contusion injury occurs in the presence of acute intoxication, and suggest that increased intramedullary hemorrhage may contribute to previously observed increases in anatomic damage and impaired functional recovery with alcohol intoxication.