Effects of mild hypothermia on neuron specific enolase following brain injury in rats / 中华创伤杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the effects of mild hypothermia on the dynamic change of neuron specific enolase (NES) in serum, the damaged neuron number around the impact site and the content of brain tissue water following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rats so as to provide a quantitative parameters to evaluate the protective effect of the mild hypothermia on the brain. Methods A total of 45 SD rats were subjected to a lateral moderate cortical impact injury caused by a free-falling object and divided randomly into three groups⑴ sham operation group (Group A);⑵ normothermic group (Group B);⑶ hypothermia group (Group C). The Group C was treated with mild hypothermia and the Group B with normothermia immediately after injury. A series of samples were obtained directly 3, 6 and 24 respectively after trauma in three groups. Pathomorphological method was used to observe the number of the damaged cortical neurons around the impact site. The serum concentration of NSE and the water content of brain tissue water were measured by radio-immunoassay. Results Following TBI in rats, the serum level of NSE was significantly increased (P