title: A new percutaneous model of Subarachnoid Haemorrhage in rats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Describe the results obtained with a new percutaneous, intracisternal model of Subarachnoid Haemorrhage (SAH) in Wistar rats by a single injection of non-heparinised, autologous blood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Once anaesthetized the rat was fixed prone in a stereotaxic frame. After identifying the projection of the occipital bone, the needle of the stereotaxic frame aspirated towards the foramen magnum until it punctured through the atlanto-occipital membrane and obtained cerebrospinal fluid. Autologous blood (100 μl) was withdrawn from the tail and injected intracisternally. This procedure was repeated in the sham group, injecting 100 μl of isotonic saline. On the fifth day post-intervention, the rats were anaesthetized and the brain was exposed. After a lethal injection of ketamine the brain was explanted and fixed in paraformaldehyde. Gross and microscopic inspection of the slices revealed the existence or non-existence of pathological findings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 26 rats were operated on (13 in the SAH group/13 in the sham group). The average time between obtaining the blood and the start of the intracisternal injection was 10 (±1.2)s. The mortality rate was 16.12%. Intra- and extraparenchymal ischemic-haemorrhagic lesions were found in three animals (23.07%)--all from the SAH group--with ischemic neuronal cell injury detected in two of the three.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The new murine model of SAH is easy to perform, with low mortality, minimally invasive, which makes it interesting for future studies on vasospasm-related delayed SAH complications.
authors.affiliation: NeuroCritical Care Unit, Virgen del Rocío University Hospital, IBIS/CSIC/University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Muñoz-Sánchez
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Egea-Guerrero
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Revuelto-Rey
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moreno-Valladares
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Murillo-Cabezas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001804:Blood Transfusion, Autologous; D002946:Cisterna Magna / Q000502:physiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D007267:Injections; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D016707:Tissue Fixation; D020301:Vasospasm, Intracranial / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology