[The effect of C 1 esterase inhibitor on ischemia: reperfusion injury in the rat brain].

BACKGROUND

Despite the current interest in thrombolytic therapy for acute stroke, ischemia-reperfusion injury remains a potentially hazardous complication. The complement system is thought to play a major role in initiating some of the inflammatory events occurring in the reperfusion injury. This study was conducted to explore the effect of C 1 esterase inhibitor (C 1 INH) on the reperfusion injury in rat middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion-reperfusion model.

METHODS

Twenty-nine male Wistar rats were used. Intraluminal MCA occlusion was performed for 60 minutes. Just before the reperfusion, C 1 INH(50 IU/kg, C 1 INH group, n = 15) or saline (control group, n = 14) was administrated. Forty-eight hours after the reperfusion, infarct volume and myeloperoxidase(MPO) activity of the brain were evaluated.

RESULTS

Infarct volume and MPO activity were significantly smaller in the C 1 INH group(86.5 +/- 76.8 mm3, 0.38 +/- 0.30 U/g) than in control group(179 +/- 92.8 mm3, 1.37 +/- 0.46 U/g) (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study provided the first evidence that C 1 INH reduced polymorphonuclear leukocytes(PMN) accumulation and reperfusion damage in the brain.