title: Source and cause of endothelin-1 release into cerebrospinal fluid after subarachnoid hemorrhage.
abstract: Despite years of research, delayed cerebral vasospasm remains a serious complication of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Recently, it has been proposed that endothelin-1 (ET-1) mediates vasospasm. The authors examined this hypothesis in a series of experiments. In a primate model of SAH, serial ET-1 levels were measured in samples from the perivascular space by using a microdialysis technique and in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma during the development and resolution of delayed vasospasm. To determine whether elevated ET-1 production was a direct cause of vasospasm or acted secondary to ischemia, the authors also measured ET-1 levels in plasma and CSF after transient cerebral ischemia. To elucidate the source of ET-1, they measured its production in cultures of endothelial cells and astrocytes exposed to oxyhemoglobin (10 microM), methemoglobin (10 microM), or hypoxia (11% oxygen). There was no correlation between the perivascular levels of ET-1 and the development of vasospasm or its resolution. Cerebrospinal fluid and plasma levels of ET-1 were not affected by vasospasm (CSF ET-1 levels were 9.3 +/- 2.2 pg/ml and ET-1 plasma levels were 1.2 +/- 0.6 pg/ml) before SAH and remained unchanged when vasospasm developed (7.1 +/- 1.7 pg/ml in CSF and 2.7 +/- 1.5 pg/ml in plasma). Transient cerebral ischemia evoked an increase of ET-1 levels in CSF (1 +/- 0.4 pg/ml at the occlusion vs. 3.1 +/- 0.6 pg/ml 4 hours after reperfusion; p < 0.05), which returned to normal (0.7 +/- 0.3 pg/ml) after 24 hours. Endothelial cells and astrocytes in culture showed inhibition of ET-1 production 6 hours after exposure to hemoglobins. Hypoxia inhibited ET-1 release by endothelial cells at 24 hours (6.4 +/- 0.8 pg/ml vs. 0.1 +/- 0.1 pg/ml, control vs. hypoxic endothelial cells; p < 0.05) and at 48 hours (6.4 +/- 0.6 pg/ml vs. 0 +/- 0.1 pg/ml, control vs. hypoxic endothelial cells; p < 0.05), but in astrocytes hypoxia induced an increase of ET-1 at 6 hours (1.5 +/- 0.6 vs. 6.4 +/- 1.1 pg/ml, control vs. hypoxic astrocytes; p < 0.05). Endothelin-1 is released from astrocytes, but not endothelial cells, during hypoxia and is released from the brain after transient ischemia. There is no relationship between ET-1 and vasospasm in vivo or between ET-1 and oxyhemoglobin, a putative agent of vasospasm, in vitro. The increase in ET-1 levels in CSF after SAH from a ruptured intracranial aneurysm appears to be the result of cerebral ischemia rather than reflecting the cause of cerebral vasospasm.
authors.affiliation: Surgical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Pluta
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Boock
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Afshar
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Clouse
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bacic
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ehrenreich
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Oldfield
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000378:metabolism*; D008251:Macaca; D017551:Microdialysis; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019332:Endothelin-1