TURKIYE KLINIKLERI TIP BILIMLERI DERGISI, cilt.30, sa.4, ss.1171-1176, 2010 (SCI-Expanded)
Objective: Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) is one of the most frequent neurological damage types in which complex physiological and biochemical events occur in traumatized area. Regional ischemia can occur in the acute phase after trauma. Recently, both clinical and experimental studies have shown that ischemia modified albumin (IMA) is one of the most promising blood markers of ischemia. In this study, whether serum IMA values can be used in rats as a marker for intracranial ischemia caused by trauma is investigated. Material and Methods: Wistar-albino adult rats were utilized in this study. Rats were exposed to MTBI by using a trauma device. Frontal and parietal brain tissues were taken for histopathological investigation. Serum IMA values of traumatised and control rats were measured with the ACB (albumin cobalt binding) test. Results: While the absolute IMA values were 0.576 +/- 0.048 for trauma group, it was identified as 0.568 +/- 0.055 for control group. There was no statistically significant difference between trauma and control groups in the mean value of the IMA. In our histopathological analysis, necrosis associated with hypoxia in the outer layers of brain cortex as a result of the trauma applied to rats, and neuron damage in the inner layers of the cortex were observed. In addition, red neurons were detected in the brain cortex as a result of early stage neuron damage associated with ischemia. Conclusion: We found that there is no significant increase in IMA levels in rats with trauma suggesting that this biomarker would not be useful in detecting early ischemic changes in MTBI.