A model for research on the blood-brain barrier disruption induced by unsaturated fatty acid emulsion.

PURPOSE: The authors investigated whether fatty acid emulsion affects the blood-brain barrier (BBB), whether disrupted BBB is reversible, and whether the fatty acid emulsion technique may be a model for BBB research. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The fat emulsion was made with 0.05 mL of oleic acid or linoleic acid and 20 mL of normal saline. The internal carotid artery in 14 cats was infused with oleic acid emulsion (group 1) and with linoleic acid emulsion in 12 cats (group 2). Gd-enhanced T1-weighted (Gd-T1WI), diffusion-weighted (DWI), and additional apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was obtained at 1 hour, 1 and 4 days, and 1 week after infusion. MRI findings were evaluated qualitatively. Quantitatively, the signal intensity ratio (SIR) of the lesion to the contralateral hemisphere was measured on Gd-T1WIs. The SIRs were statistically analyzed using the student t test. The brain tissue was removed immediately for light and electron microscopy examination if the lesion showed no contrast enhancement and was isointense on DWIs and the ADC maps. RESULTS: The lesions appeared at 1 hour in both groups as contrast enhancement on Gd-T1WIs, as isointensity or mild hyperintensity on DWIs, and as isointensity on the ADC maps. On day 1, these MRI findings were decreased in group 1 and were not seen in group 2. At 1 hour, the SIRs of group 1 were significantly higher than those of group 2 (P = 0.016). On day 1, the SIRs of both groups approximated 1.0. Light microscopy findings revealed minor necrosis and demyelination in one cat from group 1 and in 3 cats from group 2. Electron microscopy examinations showed minimal findings in the cortical lesions in groups 1 and 2. CONCLUSIONS: Infusion of unsaturated fatty acid emulsion into the carotid artery of cats revealed vasogenic edema of the brain and reversible changes as depicted on MRI. This unsaturated fat emulsion technique may be used as a model for research on BBB disruption.

Experimental cerebral fat embolism: embolic effects of triolein and oleic acid depicted by MR imaging and electron microscopy.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: In fat embolism, free fatty acid is more toxic than neutral fat in terms of tissue damage. We evaluated the hyperacute embolic effects of triolein and oleic acid in cat brains by using MR imaging and electron microscopy. METHODS: T2-weighted imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging, and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging were performed in cat brains after the injection of triolein (group 1, n = 8) or oleic acid (group 2, n = 10) into the internal carotid artery. MR images were quantitatively assessed by comparing the signal intensity ratios of the lesions with their counterparts on T2-weighted images, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps, and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images. Electron microscopic findings in group 1 were compared with those in group 2. RESULTS: Qualitatively, MR images revealed two types of lesions. Type 1 lesions were hyperintense on diffusion-weighted images and hypointense on ADC maps. Type 2 lesions were isointense or mildly hyperintense on diffusion-weighted images and isointense on ADC maps. Quantitatively, the signal intensity ratios of type 1 lesions in group 2 specimens were significantly higher on T2-weighted images (P =.013)/(P =.027) and lower on ADC maps compared with those of group 1. Electron microscopy of type 1 lesions in both groups revealed more prominent widening of the perivascular space and swelling of the neural cells in group 2, in contrast to notable endothelial defects in group 1. CONCLUSION: MR and electron microscopic data on cerebral fat embolism induced by either triolein or oleic acid revealed characteristics suggestive of both vasogenic and cytotoxic edema in the hyperacute stage. Tissue damage appeared more severe in the oleic acid group than in the triolein group.