• C Woertgen, R D Rothoerl, and A Brawanski.
• Department of Neurosurgery, University of Regensburg, Germany. chris.woertgen@klinik.uni-regensburg.de
• J. Neurotrauma. 2001 May 1;18(5):569-73.

AbstractThe aim of this study was to investigate the time course and the correlation of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) serum levels to the severity of traumatic brain injury in rats. Sixty-five male Wistar rats were subjected to severe cortical impact injury (100 PSI, 2 mm deformation). Blood samples were drawn directly after trauma and after 1, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h in the trauma group. In the sham operated levels animals samples were drawn directly after craniotomy and after 6 and 48 h. Additionally, NSE serum levels after controlled cortical impact at different levels of severity samples (45 PSI, 75 PSI; 2 mm deformity) were compared to sham-operated animals. The severity of the injury was not validated histopathologically. NSE serum levels were estimated with a commercially available enzyme immunoassay (LIA mat Sangtec). The control animals showed a NSE serum level of 8.82 microg/L (mean, n = 10) and the injured animals demonstrated a time-dependent release of NSE into the serum. The highest NSE serum values were detected 6 h after trauma (31.5 microg/L mean, n = 10). In addition, we found a close relationship between NSE serum levels and the severity of traumatic brain injury in the cortical impact model. NSE serum levels reflect in a time-dependent manner the severity of brain trauma induced by cortical impact model in rat.

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