Abstract
We have tested the effectiveness of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to restore the integrity of neuronal membranes after mechanical damage secondary to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) produced by a standardized head injury model in rats. We provide additional detail on the standardization of this model, particularly the use and storage of foam bedding that serves to both support the animal during the impact procedure and to dampen the acceleration of the brass weight. Further, we employed a dye exclusion technique using ethidium bromide (EB; quantitative evaluation) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP; qualitative evaluation). Both have been successfully used previously to evaluate neural injury in the spinal cord since they enter cells when their plasma membranes are damaged. We quantified EB labeling (90 M in 110 L of sterile saline) after injection into the left lateral ventricle of the rat brain 2 h after injury. At six h after injection and 8 h after injury, the animals were sacrificed and the brains were analyzed. In the injured rat brain, EB entered cells lining and medial to the ventricles, particularly the axons of the corpus callosum. There was minimal EB labeling in uninjured control brains, limited to cells lining the luminal surfaces of the ventricles. Intravenous injections of PEG (1 cc of saline, 30% by volume, 2000 MW) immediately after severe TBI resulted in significantly decreased EB uptake compared with injured control animals. A similar result was achieved using the larger marker, HRP. PEG-treated brains closely resembled those of uninjured animals.
Keywords
brain injury; degeneration; ethidium bromide; neuroprotection; polyethylene glycol (PEG)
Date of this Version
10-2005
Recommended Citation
Koob, Andrew O.; Duerstock, Bradley S.; Babbs, Charles F.; Sun, Yinlong; and Borgens, Richard B., "Intravenous Polyethylene Glycol Inhibits the Loss of Cerebral Cells after Brain Injury" (2005). Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications. Paper 143.
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/bmepubs/143
Comments
This is the author accepted manuscript of Koob AO, Duerstock BS, Babbs CF, Sun Y, and Borgens RB, Intravenous polyethylene glycol inhibits the loss of cerebral cells after brain injury., J Neurotrauma, 10, 1092-111, 2005. Copyright Mary Ann Liebert, the version of record can be found at https://doi.org/10.1089/neu.2005.22.1092.