• Feng Yan, Qiang Hu, Jingyin Chen, Cheng Wu, Chi Gu, and Gao Chen.
• Department of Neurosurgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, NO. 88 Jiefang road, Hangzhou 310009, China.
• Neurosci. Lett. 2013 May 24;543:163-7.

Background And PurposeAlthough the neuroprotective effects of progesterone against early brain injury (EBI) after trauma have been demonstrated in several studies, whether progesterone reduces EBI after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) remains unknown. In this study, we explored the effect of progesterone on cell apoptosis, stability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), brain edema, and mortality in male Sprague-Dawley rats subjected to subarachnoid hemorrhage-induced EBI by endovascular perforation.MethodRats (n=66) were randomly assigned to sham, SAH+vehicle, and SAH+progesterone groups. Progesterone (16 mg/kg) or an equal volume of vehicle was administered at 1h, 6h and 12h after SAH. Mortality within 24h, neurological scores, brain edema, Evans blue dye extravasation, cell apoptosis, and the expression of caspase-3 and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 were assayed after 24h of SAH.ResultProgesterone treatment significantly reduced mortality, brain edema, Evans blue dye extravasation, cell apoptosis, expression of caspase-3 and MMP-9, and improved neurological scores compared with the vehicle group.ConclusionProgesterone may reduce EBI after SAH by inhibiting cell apoptosis and stabilizing the BBB.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

31 keywords...

hide…