Summary
N-acethylcysteine (NAC) is known to have direct and indirect antioxidant abilities. We investigated the potential protective effect of NAC on ICP, brain edema and contusion volume after Controlled Cortical Impact (CCI) injury. A moderate CCI injury was induced on the left hemisphere in 48 Sprague Dawley rats. The animals were treated with intraperitoneal injection of NAC (163 mg/kg/KG) or physiological saline. Measurements of intracranial pressure (ICP) were performed and brains were removed at 24 hours. Gravimetric analysis of post-traumatic edema and morphometric measurements (TTC staining) of contusion volume were carried out in 24 animals, respectively. ICP measurements increased significantly over time with no significant differences between both groups. The relative difference in water content in NAC treated animals (1.45 ± 0.1%) did not differ significantly versus placebo (1.47 ± 0.2%). The contusion volume was diminished by 19% in the NAC group (53.52 ± 5.3 mm3) versus placebo (66.28 ± 4.7 mm3) without showing statistical significance. The antioxidant properties of NAC did not affect intracranial pressure or posttraumatic brain edema formation, although the moderate reduction of contusion volume might reveal beneficial effects on focal contusion.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aruoma OI, Halliwell B, Hoey BM, Butler J (1989) The antioxidant action of N-acetylcysteine: its reaction with hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical, superoxide, and hypochlorous acid. Free Radic Biol Med 6: 593–597
Baskaya MK, Rao AM, Dogan A, Donaldson D, Dempsey RJ (1997) The biphasic opening of the blood-brain barrier in the cortex and hippocampus after traumatic brain injury in rats. Neurosci Lett 226: 33–36
Corcoran GB, Wong BK (1986) Role of glutathione in prevention of acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity by N-acetyl-L-cysteine in vivo: studies with N-acetyl-D-cysteine in mice. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 238: 54–61
Cuzzocrea S, Mazzon E, Costantino G, et al (2000) Beneficial effects of N-acetylcysteine on ischaemic brain injury. Br J Pharmacol 130: 1219–1226
Hall ED, Andrus PK, Yonkers PA (1993) Brain hydroxyl radical generation in acute experimental head injury. J Neurochem 60: 588–594
Khan M, Sekhon B, Jatana M, et al (2004) Administration of N-acetylcysteine after focal cerebral ischemia protects brain and reduces inflammation in a rat model of experimental stroke. J Neurosci Res 76: 519–527
Knuckey NW, Palm D, Primiano M, Epstein MH, Johanson CE (1995) N-acetylcysteine enhances hippocampal neuronal survival after transient forebrain ischemia in rats. Stroke 26: 305–310; discussion 311
Kontos HA, Wei EP (1986) Superoxide production in experimental brain injury. J Neurosurg 64: 803–807
Marshall LF, Maas AI, Marshall SB, et al (1998) A multicenter trial on the efficacy of using tirilazad mesylate in cases of head injury. J Neurosurg 89: 519–525
Povlishock JT, Kontos HA (1992) The role of oxygen radicals in the pathobiology of traumatic brain injury. Hum Cell 5: 345–353
Sarrafzadeh AS, Thomale UW, Kroppenstedt SN, Unterberg AW (2000) Neuroprotective effect of melatonin on cortical impact injury in the rat. Acta Neurochir (Wien) 142: 1293–1299
Sekhon B, Sekhon C, Khan M, Patel SJ, Singh I, Singh AK (2003) N-Acetyl cysteine protects against injury in a rat model of focal cerebral ischemia. Brain Res 971: 1–8
Smith SL, Andrus PK, Zhang JR, Hall ED (1994) Direct measurement of hydroxyl radicals, lipid peroxidation, and blood-brain barrier disruption following unilateral cortical impact head injury in the rat. J Neurotrauma 11: 393–404
Stoffel M, Berger S, Staub F, Eriskat J, Jacob K, Baethmann A (1997) The effect of dietary alpha-tocopherol on the experimental vasogenic brain edema. J Neurotrauma 14: 339–348
Stroop R, Thomale UW, Pauser S, et al (1998) Magnetic resonance imaging studies with cluster algorithm for characterization of brain edema after controlled cortical impact injury (CCII) Acta Neurochir (Wien) [Suppl] 71: 303–305
Unterberg AW, Stroop R, Thomale UW, et al (1997) Characterisation of brain edema following “controlled cortical impact injury” in rats. Acta Neurochir (Wien) [Suppl] 70: 106–108
Xiong Y, Peterson PL, Lee CP (1999) Effect of N-acetylcysteine on mitochondrial function following traumatic brain injury in rats. J Neurotrauma 16: 1067–1082
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer-Verlag
About this paper
Cite this paper
Thomale, U.W., Griebenow, M., Kroppenstedt, S.N., Unterberg, A.W., Stover, J.F. (2005). The antioxidant effect of N-acethylcysteine on experimental contusion in rats. In: Poon, W.S., et al. Intracranial Pressure and Brain Monitoring XII. Acta Neurochirurgica Supplementum, vol 95. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-211-32318-X_88
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-211-32318-X_88
Publisher Name: Springer, Vienna
Print ISBN: 978-3-211-24336-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-211-32318-2
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)