A new experimental model of contusion in the rat

Abstract

✓ The authors have devised a simple reproducible rodent model of focal cortical injury that uses a mechanical suction force applied through intact dura. The time course and pattern of changes in neurons, glia, and microvasculature were investigated using this model. Early traumatic disruption of the blood-brain barrier and hemorrhage do not occur in this model; however, many of the features of human contusion seen with light and electron microscopy are closely reproduced. At the site of injury, early swelling and lucency of neural dendritic processes have been shown to precede an astrocyte response. In the absence of perivascular hemorrhage, delayed perivascular protein leakage and polymorphonuclear infiltration of the damaged cortex occurs, which is suggestive of an acute inflammatory response. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) has been measured using 14C-iodoantipyrine autoradiography at 30 minutes, 4 hours, and 24 hours after induction of negative-pressure injury in rats anesthetized with halothane and in time...