Effects of magnesium administration on brain edema and blood-brain barrier breakdown after experimental traumatic brain injury in rats


Esen F., Erdem T. L., Aktan D., Kalayci R., Cakar N., Kaya M., ...More

JOURNAL OF NEUROSURGICAL ANESTHESIOLOGY, vol.15, no.2, pp.119-125, 2003 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

Abstract

In this study, we examined the effects of magnesium sulfate administration on brain edema and blood-brain barrier breakdown after experimental traumatic brain injury in rats. Seventy-one adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized, and experimental closed head trauma was induced by allowing a 450-g weight to fall from a 2-m height onto a metallic disk fixed to the intact skull. Sixty-eight surviving rats were randomly assigned to receive an intraperitoneal bolus of either 750 mumol/kg magnesium sulfate (group 4; n = 30) or I mL of saline (group 2; n = 30) 30 minutes after induction of traumatic brain injury; 39 nontraumatized animals received saline (group 1; n = 21) or magnesium sulfate (group 3; n = 18) with an identical protocol of administration. Brain water content and brain tissue specific gravity, as indicators of brain edema, were measured 24 hours after traumatic brain injury. Blood-brain barrier integrity was evaluated quantitatively 24 hours after injury by spectrophotometric assay of Evans blue dye extravasations. In the magnesium-treated injured group, brain water content was significantly reduced (left hemisphere: group 2, 83.2 +/- 0.8; group 4, 78.4 +/- 0.7 [P < .05]; right hemisphere: group 2, 83.1 +/- 0.7; group 4, 78.4 +/- 0.5. [P < .05]) and brain tissue specific gravity was significantly increased (left hemisphere: group 2, 1.0391 +/- 0.0008; group 4, 1.0437 +/- 0.001 [P < .05]; right hemisphere, group 2, 1.0384 +/- 0.001; group 4, 1.0442 +/- 0.005 [P < .05]) compared with the saline-treated injured group. Evans blue dye content in the brain tissue was significantly decreased in the magnesium-treated injured group (left hemisphere: group 2, 0.0204 +/- 0.03; group 4, 0.0013 +/- 0.0002 [P < .05]; right hemisphere: group 2, 0.0064 +/- 0.0009; group 4, 0.0013 +/- 0.0003 [P < .05]) compared with the saline-treated injured group. The findings of the present study support that beneficial effects of magnesium sulfate exist after severe traumatic brain injury in rats. These results also indicate that a blood-brain barrier permeability defect occurs after this model of diffuse traumatic brain injury, and magnesium seems to attenuate this defect.