Author/Editor		Bunc, Gorazd; Kovačič, Srečko; Strnad, Simona
Title		Attenuation of cerebral vasospasm in rabbits using clonidine hydrochloride, a central adrenergic agonist
Type		članek
Source		Autonomic Neuro
Vol. and No.		Letnik 105
Publication year		2003
Volume		str. 71-6
Language		eng
Abstract		The aim of this study was to assess, firstly, if exclusion of central noradrenergic areas in the hypothalamus and brain stem with the central sympathetic blocker clonidine hydrochloride could prevent the development of chronic vasospasm following experimental subarachnoid haemorrhage in rabbits and, secondly, if, parallel with the effect on cerebral arteries, changes in dopamine beta-hydroxylase concentration in the hypothalamus and brain stem could also be detected. Experimental subarachnoid haemorrage, in concentrations of 1 ml of autologous arterial blood/1 kg of body weight was carried out on 18 New Zealand rabbits. Histological specimens were obtained by the method of perfusion fixation after the rabbits were sacrificed on day 8 after subarachnoid haemorrhage. The spastic effect of experimentally induced subarachnoid haemorrhage was determined by assessing the intensity of corrugation of the intima of the rabbit basilar artery by the previously developed method of crrugation coefficient and computer image analysis. The concentration and localization of dopamine beta-hydroxylase in noradrenaline-containing neurons was immunohistochemically assessed (semiquantitatively as 0, 1 and 2) with anti-dopamine beta-hydroxylase, at precisely defined sites of the hypothalamus and brain stem of the same rabbit. (Abstract truncated at 2000 characters)
Descriptors		SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE CEREBRAL ISCHEMIA, TRANSIENT CLONIDINE DOPAMINE BETA-HYDROXYLASE RABBITS HYPOTHALAMUS BRAIN STEM IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY BASILAR ARTERY