title: Experimental intracerebral hematoma in the rat: characterization by sequential magnetic resonance imaging, behavior, and histopathology. Effect of albumin therapy.
abstract: We characterized acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in the rat by sequential magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and correlated MRI findings with neurobehavior and histopathology. In addition, we investigated whether albumin treatment would reduce ICH-induced brain injury. ICH was produced in rats by a double-injection method in which 45 microl of fresh arterial blood was injected into the right striatum. Susceptibility-weighted (SWI) and T2-weighted (T2WI) MRI was carried out on a 4.7T magnet at 0-1 h, 6 h, 24 h, 72 h, and 7 days after ICH. Animals were treated with either 25% human albumin, 1.25 g/kg, or saline vehicle i.v. at 90 min after ICH. Neurological status was evaluated before ICH and after treatment (at 4 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, and 7 days). Brains were then perfusion-fixed, re-imaged on an 11.7T magnet, and studied by histopathology and immunochemistry. MRI revealed a consistent hematoma involving the striatum and overlying corpus callosum, with significant volume changes over time. Lesion volumes computed from T2WI images and by histopathology agreed closely with one another and were highly correlated (p=0.002). SWI lesion volumes were also highly correlated to histological volumes (p<0.001) but overestimated histological hematoma volume by approximately 5-fold. Albumin treatment significantly improved neurological scores compared to saline at 72 h (3.8+/-0.6 vs. 1.5+/-0.7) and 7 days (3.8+/-0.4 vs. 1.3+/-0.5, respectively, p<0.05), but did not affect histological or MRI lesion volumes. Taken together, sequential MRI plus histopathology provides a comprehensive characterization of experimental ICH. Albumin treatment improves neurological deficit after ICH but does not affect MRI or histological hematoma size.
authors.affiliation: Cerebral Vascular Disease Research Center, Department of Neurology, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Ludmila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Belayev
authors.forename: Andre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Obenaus
authors.forename: Weizhao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Saul
authors.forename: Raul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Busto
authors.forename: Chunyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Alexey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vigdorchik
authors.forename: Baowan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Myron D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Ginsberg
mesh_terms: D000418:Albumins / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D020520:Brain Infarction / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D005911:Gliosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010336:Pathology / Q000379:methods; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000418:Albumins; D015415:Biomarkers