losartan-potassium and Brain-Concussion

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) results in an estimated 75-90% of the 1.7 million TBI-related emergency room visits each year. Post-concussion symptoms, which can include impaired memory problems, may persist for prolonged periods of time in a fraction of these cases. The purpose of this study was to determine if an erythropoietin-mimetic peptide, pyroglutamate helix B surface peptide (pHBSP), would improve neurological outcomes following mTBI. Sixty-four rats were randomly assigned to pHBSP or control (inactive peptide) 30 μg/kg IP every 12 h for 3 days, starting at either 1 hour (early treatment) or 24 h (delayed treatment), after mTBI (cortical impact injury 3 m/sec, 2.5 mm deformation). Treatment with pHBSP resulted in significantly improved performance on the Morris water maze task. Rats that received pHBSP required 22.3±1.3 sec to find the platform, compared to 26.3±1.3 sec in control rats (p=0.022). The rats that received pHBSP also traveled a significantly shorter distance to get to the platform, 5.0±0.3 meters, compared to 6.1±0.3 meters in control rats (p=0.019). Motor tasks were only transiently impaired in this mTBI model, and no treatment effect on motor performance was observed with pHBSP. Despite the minimal tissue injury with this mTBI model, there was significant activation of inflammatory cells identified by labeling with CD68, which was reduced in the pHBSP-treated animals. The results suggest that pHBSP may improve cognitive function following mTBI.

Topics: Animals; Brain; Brain Concussion; Disease Models, Animal; Erythropoietin; Maze Learning; Motor Activity; Neuroprotective Agents; Oligopeptides; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Recovery of Function

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of erythropoietin (Epo) on the intestinal labile zinc and the inflammatory factor in rats after traumatic brain injury (TBI).. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into nine groups: (a) normal group; (b) sham-operation group; (c, d, e, f, and g) TBI group, killed at 1 hour, 6 hour, 24 hour, and 72 hour and 7 days postinjury, respectively; (h and i) TBI + saline and TBI + Epo, killed at 24 hour or 72 hour postinjury. Parietal brain contusion was produced by a free-falling weight on the exposed dura of the right parietal lobe. Intestinal labile zinc, the tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin (IL)-8, and wet/dry weight ratio were investigated in different groups.. The gut contains a certain amount of labile zinc in normal animals and TBI caused obviously gradual increment of intestinal liabled zinc. The levels of inflammatory mediators and the gut wet/dry weight ratio were also found to increase in the trauma group (p < 0.05). There was a highly positive correlation between the abundance of zinc fluorescence and these proinflammation factors. Epo significantly reduced the intestinal labile zinc, the inflammatory mediators, and the gut wet/dry weight ratio compared with TBI group (p < 0.05).. Epo can protect intestine from TBI-induced injury by attenuating intestinal inflammation and labile zinc accumulation in vivo.

Topics: Animals; Brain Concussion; Capillary Permeability; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Erythropoietin; Homeostasis; Inflammation Mediators; Interleukin-8; Intestinal Mucosa; Male; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Parietal Lobe; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Recombinant Proteins; Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; Zinc