Articles: brain-injuries.
-
A patient with head injury presented with computed tomography findings of a diffuse severe infarction of the left cerebral hemisphere in which the cerebral hemodynamics can be evaluated by transcranial Doppler sonography. Serial angiograms revealed a carotid-cavernous fistula, with a complete steal phenomenon. The unusual complication of a traumatic carotidcavernous fistula is discussed.
-
Journal of neurochemistry · Nov 1995
Nerve growth factor administration attenuates cognitive but not neurobehavioral motor dysfunction or hippocampal cell loss following fluid-percussion brain injury in rats.
Lateral fluid-percussion brain injury in rats results in cognitive deficits, motor dysfunction, and selective hippocampal cell loss. Neurotrophic factors have been shown to have potential therapeutic applications in neurodegenerative diseases, and nerve growth factor (NGF) has been shown to be neuroprotective in models of excitotoxicity. This study evaluated the neuroprotective efficacy of intracerebral NGF infusion after traumatic brain injury. ⋯ Although an improvement in memory scores was not observed at 72 h after injury, animals receiving NGF infusions showed significantly improved memory scores when tested at 1 or 2 weeks after injury compared with injured animals receiving vehicle infusions (p < 0.05). Motor scores and CA3 hippocampal cell loss were not significantly different in any group of NGF-treated animals when compared with controls. These data suggest that NGF administration, in the acute, posttraumatic period following fluid-percussion brain injury, may have potential in improving post-traumatic cognitive deficits.
-
Training and instructions in the use of mental imagery can lead to improved retention in patients with memory impairment as the result of brain injury or disease. The amount of improvement varies inversely with the severity of memory impairment, but it largely unrelated to either the aetiology or the locus of brain damage. ⋯ However, brain-damaged patients may need explicit prompting if they are to use imagery mnemonics successfully and often fail to maintain their use on similar learning materials or to generalise their use to new learning situations. As a result, imagery mnemonics will typically be of little practical value in enabling memory-impaired individuals to respond to the cognitive challenges of everyday life.
-
Brain Res. Mol. Brain Res. · Nov 1995
Comparative StudyExpression of c-fos and hsp70 mRNA after traumatic brain injury in transgenic mice overexpressing CuZn-superoxide dismutase.
The aim of this study was to determine the role of oxidative stress on c-fos and hsp70 gene expression in transgenic (Tg) mice overexpressing CuZn-superoxide dismutase (SOD-1) following traumatic brain injury (TBI). hsp70 mRNA, as investigated using in situ hybridization, was induced around the lesion at 4 and 24 h, but not at 1 and 48 h, in both Tg and non-transgenic (nTg) mice littermates. The degree of hsp70 induction was somewhat greater in nTg than Tg mice at 4 and 24 h after TBI. c-fos mRNA was induced throughout cortex, hippocampus, caudate putamen and the ventricular wall in Tg and nTg mice. TBI induced c-fos bilaterally in the cortex in both animals. ⋯ Edema of the injured cortex was significantly attenuated in Tg mice at all time points (1-48 h). These data show that the degree of hsp70 induction and the degree, extent, and duration of c-fos induction produced by TBI are affected by levels of superoxide dismutase activity. It is proposed that superoxide radicals affect spreading depression and brain edema produced by TBI and that this effect may either directly or indirectly modulate the expression of the c-fos and hsp70 genes after TBI.
-
Journal of neurosurgery · Nov 1995
Chronic postinjury administration of MDL 26,479 (Suritozole), a negative modulator at the GABAA receptor, and cognitive impairment in rats following traumatic brain injury.
The present experiment examined the efficacy of postinjury administration of MDL 26,479 (Suritozole), a negative modulator at the gamma-aminobutyric acidA (GABAA) receptor that enhances cholinergic function, in attenuating spatial memory deficits after traumatic brain injury in the rat. Two experiments were performed. In the delayed-dosing experiment, rats received a moderate level (2.1 atm) of fluid-percussion brain injury and were tested in the Morris water maze 11 to 15 days following injury. ⋯ However, those treated chronically beginning 24 hours after injury had significantly shorter latencies than the injured, saline-treated rats (p < 0.05). These results suggest that administration of agents that enhance cholinergic function may be an appropriate strategy for promoting cognitive recovery when given after traumatic brain injury. Furthermore, prolonged treatment may be necessary to elicit beneficial effects.