Effect of naloxone on neural functional recovery of rats with traumatic brain injury

Yanhui SUN; He MENG; Yazhuo ZHANG; Qingguo LI; Meizhen SUN; Hongyun WANG; Yue HE

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:

As unspecific antagonist of opiate receptor, naloxone is widely used for multiple diseases which are related with abnormal release of endogenous opium. At present, researches suggest that large dosage of naloxone is used at early period can decrease death rate of patients with acute craniocerebral injury and promote neural functional recovery.

OBJECTIVE:

To investigate the effect of naloxone on improving the nervous function of rats with acute craniocerebral injury and to analyze effectively.

DESIGN:

Randomized grouping design based on the experimental animal.

SETTING:

Beijing Neurosurgical Institute.MATERIALS Totally 250 SD rats were divided randomly into 0.3, 1.0,3.0, 9.0 mg/kg naloxone group, positive control group and negative control group.

METHODS:

Craniocerebral injured model was established with Feenly free fall struck, and the medicine was given 30 minutes after injury. The rats of the first four experimental group were injected transpeniponeally with naloxone hydrochloride by 0.3 mg/kg, 1.0 mg/kg, 3.0 mg/kg and 9.0 mg/kg respectively once a day; meanwhile, the control groups were given 2 mg citicoline sodium for injection and 0.5 mL normal saline per rat respectively. The longest time was 14 days.MAIN OUTCOME

MEASURES:

MNSS neural functional score was used every day. The brain edemas of 8 rats in each group were measured with wet-dry weight methods on the second and the fourth day after head trauma.

RESULTS:

Among 250 rats, 172 entered the final analysis. The nervous function of rats in naloxone groups was better than the two control groups (P ＜ 0.01), and that in 1, 3 and 9 mg/kg naloxone group were better than 0.3 mg/kg group (P ＜ 0.05), but there were no significant differences a mong the three naloxone groups (P ＞ 0.05). The brain edemas of rats in naloxone groups were lighter than that in the control groups (P ＜ 0.05), and that of 1, 3 and 9 mg/kg groups were lighter than 0.3 mg/kg (P ＜ 0.05), but there were no significant differences among these three groups (P ＞ 0.05).

CONCLUSION:

Naloxone can decrease the brain edemas of rats with traumatic brain injury, promote the nervous function recovery, and the treatment effect changes with the dosage during some range.Therefore, the experiment illustrates that naloxone can decrease the brain edemas of experimental brain injury in SD rats and improve the nervous function, but the effect of naloxone is associated with the dosages in some range.