The efficiency of dexamethasone sodium phosphate-encapsulated chitosan microspheres after cold injury.
OBJECTIVE
The aims of this study were to evaluate the efficiency of dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DSP) in the treatment of cold injury-induced brain edema and to compare systemic and topical application of DSP.


METHODS
Sprague-Dawley rats weighing nearly 300 g were used in the experiments. Brain edema was formed by cold injury using metal sterile rods with a diameter of 4 mm that were previously cooled at -80 degrees C. Twenty-four hours after the injury, animals were decapitated and brain tissues were investigated by wet-dry weight method, lipid peroxidation ratio, and histological examination.


RESULTS
The degree of edema was significantly lowered in groups in which DSP was administered using chitosan microspheres and by intraperitoneal route (P < .05). The statistical evaluation of the experimental results was performed using Mann-Whitney U test. Histological findings transmission electron microscopy (TEM) correlated with the quantitative results.


CONCLUSIONS
Both intraperitoneal- and microsphere-administered DSP were found to be very effective in a cold injury brain edema model. The authors believe that future studies should lead to new applications of the microsphere formulations prepared by chitosan as the matrix material in many other therapies.
Turkoglu
Omer Faruk
OF
Department of Neurological Surgery, Ankara Numune Research and Education Hospital, 06100 Ankara, Turkey. ofturkoglu@yahoo.com
Eroglu
Hakan
H
Okutan
Ozerk
O
Burul
Ebru
E
Sargon
Mustafa F
MF
Ozer
Nazmi
N
Oner
Levent
L
Beskonakli
Etem
E
D000818:Animals; D001929:Brain Edema / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D048271:Chitosan; D003080:Cold Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D005260:Female; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation; D008297:Male; D008863:Microspheres; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
C004180:dexamethasone 21-phosphate; D003907:Dexamethasone; D048271:Chitosan