Study on the progression of brain edema in animals based on MCAO model

JIA Dengfeng; YANG Bin; YANG Yang; CHEN Fangming; FU Feng; LI Lihong

doi:10.13276/j.issn.2097-1656.2024.11.003

Abstract：Objective To explore the temporal changes of cerebral water content and the occurrence time of vasogenic cerebral edema after ischemic stroke(IS)by HE staining and diffusion-weighted imaging(DWI).Methods The experiment was divided into model group and control group.Middle cerebral artery occlusion model was prepared by thread-embolism method.After modeling,21 subgroups were divided to observe the changes of cerebral edema at different time points.Cerebral water content was measured by dry/wet weight method.The morphological changes of brain tissue were observed by HE staining.DWI was used to obtain the relative apparent diffusion coefficient(rADC)and calculate the average rADC at each time point,observe the change rule of rADC with time,and find the time inflection point of the value change.Results The cerebral water content increased at 9-11 h after modeling(9 h,P=0.081 0;11 h,P=0.075 5),increased rapidly at 12-36 h(12 h,P=0.048 4;24 h,P=0.000 2;36 h,P=0.000 1)and decreased speedily at 36-60 h(48 h,P=0.000 8;60 h,P=0.030 4).HE results showed that edema and degeneration of gray matter cells began to appear immediately after modeling,and vacuolation and spongiform degeneration of white matter nerve fiber bundles began to appear at 3 h.The DWI results showed that rADC value increased for the first time at 186 min after modeling,and then decreased,so this time point was the inflection point of rADC value change.Conclusion Vasogenic cerebral edema appeared at 3 h after IS,and the cerebral water content reached its peak at 36 h.On the basis of the findings of this study,the change rule of brain edema in IS patients should be further clarified based on DWI in the future,so as to provide a basis for the refined treatment of brain edema after IS.