Progesterone Should Be Considered a Treatment Option in TBI

A new commentary recommends that progesterone (PROG)--a naturally occurring hormone found in both males and females that can protect damaged cells in the central and peripheral nervous systems--be considered a viable treatment option for traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Researchers at Emory University (Atlanta, GA, USA) propose that injected or infused progesterone be considered as a treatment option for head trauma and central nervous system injuries. The researchers cited 100 preclinical studies and 2 clinical trials showing the hormone's beneficial effects on brain and central nervous system injuries, including TBI. Progesterone, they claim, protects against oxidative stress and immune inflammatory rejection reactions, as well as regulating neuronal development, mechanisms by which the hormone may hold promise in the treatment of traumatic and degenerative disorders of the brain and central nervous system. The commentary was published in the January 2010 issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR).


"Growing evidence indicates that postinjury administration of PROG in a variety of brain damage models can have beneficial effects, leading to substantial and sustained improvements in brain functionality,” said lead author Donald G. Stein, Ph.D., of the department of emergency medicine, "Given its relatively high safety profile, its ease of administration, its low cost and ready availability, progesterone should be considered a viable treatment option - especially because, in brain injury, so little else is currently available.”

Although it is widely considered a "sex steroid," PROG is also a protection hormone. It is naturally present in small but measurable amounts in the brains of males and females, and human brain tissue is loaded with progesterone receptors. Laboratory studies suggest that progesterone is critical for the normal development of neurons in the brain and exerts protective effects on damaged brain tissue by significantly reducing the area of necrotic cell death, improving behavioral outcomes, and protect neurons distal to the injury site. A U.S. national multicenter, randomized, double-blind study, coined ProTECT III, is planning to enroll 1,140 patients over five years at 17 medical centers across the United States to examine the neuroprotective effects of PROG.

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Emory University