3% hypertonic saline following subarachnoid hemorrhage in rats.
BACKGROUND
Hypertonic saline (HTS) has been proposed as a treatment after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) to minimize ischemic brain injury due to its osmotic and rheologic properties. Although the benefits of 7.2% HTS use in brain injury have been studied, there is a paucity of data on the use of 3%HTS.


METHODS
We investigated whether 3%HTS can reduce brain water content and improve neurologic function after SAH in the rodent model compared to 0.9% saline solution (NS). Neurologic testing was conducted at 24 hours post-SAH prior to sacrificing animals for brain water content evaluation.


RESULTS
There was significant potentiation of brain water content in the right hemisphere between 3%HTS and NS groups. The modified Garcia score was not significantly different between the two groups; however, the vibrissae-stimulated forelimb placement test showed significantly lower scores in the HTS group. 3%HTS does not decrease brain edema or improve neurologic deficits as compared to NS. In fact, our study showed 3%HTS potentiated brain edema and worsened neurologic deficits in the rat SAH model.


CONCLUSIONS
Given the potential adverse effects of HTS therapies, including hyperchloremic acidosis, and the lack of benefit found in our study, more investigation is required to evaluate the clinical use of 3%HTS in the setting of SAH.
Lee
Steve
S
Department of Anesthesiology, Loma Linda University Medical Center, 11234 Anderson Street, Room 2534, Loma Linda, CA 92354, USA.
Stier
Gary
G
Marcantonio
Suzzanne
S
Lekic
Tim
T
Allard
Martin
M
Martin
Robert
R
Zhang
John
J
D000818:Animals; D001929:Brain Edema / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008297:Male; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000379:methods; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012462:Saline Solution, Hypertonic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*
D012462:Saline Solution, Hypertonic