Correction of spleen mass index with neurological dysfunction scores and infarct volume in brain ischemia rats / 医学研究生学报

ABSTRACT

[Abstract ] Objective The spleen plays an important role in brain ischemia-induced cerebral injury.This study aimed to ex-plore the correlation of the spleen mass index with the neurological function scores and infarction volume following permanent occlusion of the middle cerebral artery ( pMCAO) in rats. Methods Thirty male SD rats were equally randomized into a sham operation, a 3-day brain ischemia, and a 7-day brain ischemia group.The pMCAO model was established by ligation in the right brain of the rats. Neurological function scores were obtained with the Longa 5-Point Scale at 0, 3, and 7 days after modeling, and at 3 and 7 days, the spleen mass index was calculated, the infarction volume measured by TTC, and brain histopathological changes evaluated by HE stai-ning. Results Compared with the 7-day ischemia group, the 3-day ischemia rats showed significantly reduced spleen mass index ([1.62 ±0.58] vs [0.87 ±0.59] mg/g) and increased neurological function score (1.00 [1.00, 1.25] vs 2.00 [1.75, 2.25]) and infarct volume ([18.67 ±7.92] vs [36.20 ±14.92]%) (all P<0.05).An extremely significant decrease was found in the spleen mass index of the 3-day ischemia rats in comparison with that of the animals in the sham operation group ([1.90 ±0.22] mg/g) (P<0.01).HE staining revealed more obvious pathological injury of the cerebral cortex in the 3-day than in the 7-day group.The spleen mass index was negatively correlated with the neurological dys-function score (r=-0.851, P=0.019) and infarction volume (r=-0.717, P =0.013). Conclusion In pMCAO rats, measure-ment of the spleen mass index contributes significantly to the preven-tion and improvement of ischemia-induced cerebral injury.