CSF neuron-specific enolase as a quantitative marker of neuronal damage in a rat stroke model.
A technique for chronic cisternal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sampling in conscious rats was used to obtain multiple 50 microliters samples before and up to 7 days after middle cerebral artery occlusion. Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay using a readily available kit. The volume of infarction was measured by integrating the area of damage on 9 evenly spaced histological sections of the forebrain. This correlated well (r = 0.97, P less than 0.001) with the concentration of CSF neuron-specific enolase integrated over the first 5 days post occlusion, in animals with pure cortical and mixed cortical and striatal lesions. The correlation was maintained in animals given the NMDA antagonist MK-801. There was also a good correlation between the CSF NSE concentration 3 days post-MCAO and the volume of infarction (r = 0.92, P less than 0.01). It is therefore possible that CSF neuron-specific enolase may be useful as a quantitative marker of ischaemic damage in humans and provide a useful adjunct in the assessment of neuroprotective drugs in stroke.
Hatfield
R H
RH
Merck Sharp and Dohme Neuroscience Research Centre, Harlow, Essex, UK.
McKernan
R M
RM
D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D002408:Catheters, Indwelling; D002536:Cerebral Arteries; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D003250:Constriction; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D016291:Dizocilpine Maleate / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D010477:Perfusion; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D015415:Biomarkers; D016291:Dizocilpine Maleate; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase