title: Brain hemorrhages after rt-PA treatment of embolic stroke in spontaneously hypertensive rats.
abstract: Intracerebral hemorrhage is a major complicating factor of thrombolytic therapy of stroke. To investigate the incidence of bleeding in animals with a diseased vascular system, thrombolysis was carried out in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) after clot embolism of the right middle cerebral artery (MCA). Three hours after embolism SHR were treated with either recombinant tissue-plasminogen activator (rt-PA) or saline, and neurological deficits and intracerebral hemorrhages were evaluated after 3 days survival. Rt-PA-treated SHR exhibited a significantly higher incidence of hemorrhages than untreated rats but neurological deficits and survival rates showed a non-significant trend for improvement. This model offers the possibility of investigating the pathophysiology of post-thrombolytic complications in a clinically relevant small animal model.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für neurologische Forschung, Abteilung für experimentelle Neurologie, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brinker
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pillekamp
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Hossmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000188:drug therapy; D020766:Intracranial Embolism / Q000188:drug therapy*; D020300:Intracranial Hemorrhages / Q000139:chemically induced*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000009:adverse effects; D020521:Stroke / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010959:Tissue Plasminogen Activator / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D010959:Tissue Plasminogen Activator