An unusual complication of hypertensive hemorrhage - delayed oculomotor palsy: case report and literature review.

We present a case of oculomotor palsy due to hypertensive hemorrhage in the caudate nucleus, with intraventricular extension. To our knowledge, this is the only instance of this complication occurring due to hypertensive hemorrhage. Our patient initially developed headache at the time of her hemorrhage; 8 days later, she developed complete third nerve palsy, which showed improvement at follow-up 4 months later. This was due to tracking of blood into the perimesencephalic cistern. The presence of hemorrhage in the basal cisterns was not visible on the initial CT scans and highlights the role of MRI in evaluating the brainstem for the presence of blood products.

Early spatial memory deficit induced by 2,5-hexanedione in the rat.

2,5-Hexanedione (2,5-HD), the major common neurotoxic metabolite of n-hexane and methyl n-butyl ketone, causes a delayed neuropathy with associated sensorimotor impairments. The question arises as to whether specific cognitive deficits occur even prior to changes in sensorimotor ability. The present experiments examined the effects of 2,5-HD on spatial navigation of rats in a water maze at levels/times that did not affect spontaneous exploratory motor activity in an open field holeboard apparatus. Exposure to 1% 2,5-HD in the drinking water for 2 weeks did not significantly affect escape learning, as measured by latency to find a hidden platform. However, 2,5-HD treated animals were impaired in the use of a spatial strategy during a recall test. A similar impairment in spatial memory was observed after i.p. injection of 500 mg/kg/day 2,5-HD for 4 days, in the absence of significant changes in sensorimotor ability or weight loss. Thus 2,5-HD may mediate some of the cognitive effects of hexacarbons and these changes can occur prior to the development of motor symptoms.