Long-term intracerebral inflammatory response after... : NeuroReport (original) (raw)

Clinical Neuroscience

Long-term intracerebral inflammatory response after experimental focal brain injury in rat

1Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Section of Neurosurgery, Karolinska Institute, S-171 76, Stockholm, Sweden.

2Corresponding Author: Staffan Holmin

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: This study was supported by the Swedish Medical Research Council, grant No. 12533, Tore Nilssons Stiftelse för Medicinsk Forskning, Torsten och Ragnar Söderbergs Stiftelser, Magn. Bergvalls stiftelse and 1987 års Fond för Storkeforskning.

Received 30 March 1999; accepted 24 April 1999

Abstract

HEAD injury is a risk factor for development of the sporadic form of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and chronic anti-inflammatory treatment reduces the prevalence of AD. This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that inflammatory reactions persist in the long term. Rats were subjected to moderate focal brain injury. The brains were analyzed after 3 months by immunohistochemistry. Persistent major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-II up-regulation, mononuclear phagocytes, interleukin (IL)-1-β and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α synthesis (p < 0.01) were detected in large areas of the ipsilateral hemisphere. The fact that a long-term inflammation is detectable following experimental brain injury corroborates the hypothesis that persistent posttraumatic inflammation is a possible factor in the causative chain of traumatically induced dementia.