Tenascin-C is induced in cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage in rats and humans: a pilot study.
OBJECTIVE
Cerebral vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) has been hypothesized to occur because of both inflammation-mediated sustained contraction of smooth muscle cells and vascular remodeling. As our recent study showed that tenascin-C (TN-C), an extracellular matrix glycoprotein which is up-regulated in inflammatory states and is associated with tissue remodeling, causes vasospasm-like changes in arterial walls, we examined whether TN-C might be induced in relation to the occurrence of cerebral vasospasm experimentally and clinically.


METHODS
First, rat models were produced by means of a single cisternal injection of either autologous arterial blood or saline. Immunostaining for TN-C was performed with basilar arteries obtained from non-operated rats (n=3) and on days 1-4 in SAH (n=18) or saline-injected (n=12) rats. Second, levels of TN-C were prospectively measured in serum in 31 consecutive patients diagnosed with aneurysmal SAH on days 1-12 and compared between those with and without subsequent cerebral vasospasm.


RESULTS
In SAH rats, marked induction of TN-C immunoreactivity was shown throughout the vasospastic arterial wall, especially in the smooth muscle cell layers, in comparison with control rats. In a clinical study, serum TN-C levels increased transiently, the extent being significantly greater in patients with subsequent vasospasm; the peak occurred 2.4 days before an increase in the mean transcranial Doppler velocity to > or =120 cm/s and 3.6 days before the onset of symptomatic vasospasm (n=14).


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study suggesting TN-C increases with close linkage to the occurrence of vasospasm after SAH.
Suzuki
Hidenori
H
Department of Neurosurgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Mie University, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu, Mie 514-8507, Japan. suzuki02@clin.medic.mie-u.ac.jp
Kanamaru
Kenji
K
Suzuki
Yoshio
Y
Aimi
Yuri
Y
Matsubara
Noriaki
N
Araki
Tomohiro
T
Takayasu
Masakazu
M
Kinoshita
Noriaki
N
Imanaka-Yoshida
Kyoko
K
Yoshida
Toshimichi
T
Taki
Waro
W
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D019063:Tenascin / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000097:blood; D020301:Vasospasm, Intracranial / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology
D019063:Tenascin