title: Effective protection of rabbits' explosive brain injury through blocking gap junction communication.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The gap junction plays an important role in spreading of apoptotic and necrotic signals from injured and stressed cells to the neighboring viable cells. The present study was performed to investigate the important role of gap junction communication on rabbits' explosive brain injury.
  
  
  METHODS
  Explosion of paper detonators was used to create explosive brain injury model in 60 rabbits, which was randomly divided into control group and experimental group. Octanol, an efficient blocker of gap junction, was injected in the left ventricle to block gap junction communication in the experimental group 2 hours before injury, while the same volume of saline was utilized in the control group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Penumbra volume around the brain contusion in the experimental group was significantly less than that in the control group at 1d and 3d after brain damage. RT-PCR and Western blotting analysis indicated that the expression of connexin-43 (Cx43) and caspase-3 was significantly lower in the experimental group than that in the control group at all time points.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rabbits' explosive brain injury can be efficiently attenuated through blocking the gap junction communication, which benefit for deeper understanding the mechanism of brain injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, 105th Hospital of PLA, Hefei City, 230031, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yong-Ming
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jia-Chuan
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yan-Yan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wen-Jiang
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bing-Cang
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liang-Chao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001753:Blast Injuries; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000378:metabolism*; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D018031:Connexin 43 / Q000378:metabolism*; D017629:Gap Junctions / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D000442:Octanols; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D011817:Rabbits; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D018031:Connexin 43; D000442:Octanols; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D053148:Caspase 3
keywords: caspase-3; connexin-43 (Cx43); explosive brain injury