Visualisation of cortical pO(2) during an epidural mass lesion in rodents

[An experimental model of mass-type brain damage in the rat: expression of brain damage based on neurospecific enolase and protein S100B]

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether a model of transient mass-type brain damage (MTBD) in the rat produces early release of neurospecific enolase (NSE) and protein S100B in peripheral blood, as an expression of the induced brain injury.

DESIGN

An experimental study with a control group.

SETTING

Experimental operating room of the Institute of Biomedicine (IBiS) of Virgen del Rocío University Hospital (Seville, Spain).

PARTICIPANTS

Fourteen adult Wistar rats.

INTERVENTIONS

Blood was sampled at baseline, followed by: MTBD group, a trephine perforation was used to insert and inflate the balloon of a catheter at a rate of 500 μl/20 sec, followed by 4 blood extractions every 20 min. Control group, the same procedure as before was carried out, though without trephine perforation.

PRIMARY STUDY VARIABLES

Weight, early mortality, serum NSE and S100B concentration.

RESULTS

Differences in NSE and S100B concentration were observed over time within the MTBD group (P<.001), though not so in the control group. With the exception of the baseline determination, differences were observed between the two groups in terms of the mean NSE and S100B values. Following MTBD, NSE and S100B progressively increased at all measurement timepoints, with r=0.765; P=.001 and r=0.628; P=.001, respectively. In contrast, the control group showed no such correlation for either biomarker.

CONCLUSIONS

Serum NSE and S100B concentrations offer an early indication of brain injury affecting the gray and white matter in an experimental model of mass-type MTBD in the rat.