title: Investigation of the course of GFAP in blood in the initial 24 hours in rats subjected to minor head trauma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Aim of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of Glial Fibrillar Acidic Protein (GFAP) particularly in minor head traumas.
  
  
  METHODS
  72 female and male, 3 month-old, Sprague Dawley rats were used in the study. The rats were divided into 9 groups. Following anesthesia, all rats were placed in prone position. A 10 mm long and 3 mm thick stainless steel metal disc was fixed onto the skull using dental paste in order to sustain a closed head trauma and evenly distribute the weight throughout the skull. After placing it under the metallic pipe arrangement over a height of 80 centimeters and fixing to make it constant, 50 g metallic discs were released by free fall, and the head trauma was sustained thanks to the gravity-generated force. Blood samples were collected from the rats under anesthesia for biochemical GFAP analysis 10 minutes after the trauma and in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 24 consecutive hours later.
  
  
  RESULTS
  GFAP has a peak, and its peak level at hours 1 and 2 in rats subjected to a minor head trauma, with a slight decrease afterwards.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  GFAP is an important marker in determining the severity of traumatic brain injury.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medicine Clinic, Sevket Yilmaz Training and Research, Bursa, Turkey. ekici@gmail.com.
authors.forename: H I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Cikriklar
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ekici
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ozbek
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Cosan
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baydemir
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yürümez
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein