Lidase treatment of spinal cord transected rats.

Russian investigators have recently reported clinical recovery of enzyme treated, spinal cord transected rats. Using the exact protocols outlined by Matinian and Andreasian, we repeated a portion of their experiment using a Lidase preparation manufactured in the USSR. Animals were evaluated for return of bladder function, clinical evidence of hind limb motor function, cortical evoked response after sciatic nerve stimulation, and axonal transport of cortically injected tritiate proline by regenerated corticospinal axons. The only difference between treated and control animals was that the mean total body weight of the treated animals increased more than that of controls (p less than 0.05). No animal walked, had return of voluntary motor activity, showed cortical evoked response, or had evidence for transport of tritiated proline over regenerated corticospinal axons.