Neurological research
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Neurological research · Dec 2013
Neuropeptide Y - an early biomarker for cerebral vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.
In the human brain, the potent vasoconstrictive neuropeptide Y (NPY) is abundantly expressed. Neuropeptide Y, which is stored in perivascular nerve fibers of the cerebral arteries, regulates the cerebral vascular diameter as well as cerebral blood flow. However, the role of NPY in the pathogenesis of cerebral vasospasm (CV) related to subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is unclear. We prospectively analyzed and compared the release of endogenous NPY in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 66 patients with SAH to NPY release in a control group. Additionally, we correlated the levels of NPY with CV and consecutive ischemic stroke. ⋯ Our data indicate that NPY is involved in the pathogenesis of SAH-related CV and ischemia. Neuropeptide Y represents an early and reliable biomarker for the prediction of CV and consecutive stroke due to aneurysmal SAH.
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Neurological research · Dec 2013
Surgical management of epilepsy due to cerebral cavernomas using neuronavigation and intraoperative MR imaging.
Cure from seizures due to cavernomas might be surgically achieved dependent on both, the complete removal of the cavernoma as well as its surrounding hemosiderin rim. High field intraoperative MRI imaging (iopMRI) and neuronavigation might play a crucial role to achieve both goals. We retrospectively investigated the long-term results and impact of intraoperative 1·5T MRI (iopMRI) and neuronavigation on the completeness of surgical removal of a cavernous malformation (CM) and its perilesional hemosiderin rim as well as reduction of surgical morbidity. ⋯ We report excellent long-term seizure control with minimal surgical morbidity after complete resection of CM using our multimodal approach.
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Neurological research · Nov 2013
Lipoxin A4 ameliorates cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion injury through upregulation of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2.
Lipoxin A4 (LXA4) is a potent anti-inflammatory mediator that exerts a neuroprotective effect following cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Upregulation of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is generally considered to reduce cerebral I/R injury. Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 can induce haeme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and glutathione (GSH) expression to combat increased oxidative stress. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of Nrf2 signalling on LXA4-mediated neuroprotection. ⋯ Overall, our data suggest that Nrf2 upregulation is involved in the neuroprotective effects of LXA4 and may be ALXR independent.
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Neurological research · Nov 2013
Evaluation of analgesic, antioxidant, cytotoxic and metabolic effects of pregabalin for the use in neuropathic pain.
The aim of this research was to evaluate analgesic, antioxidant, metabolic, and cytotoxic effects of pregabalin (PGB), which is widely applied for the treatment of neuropathic pain syndromes in diabetic patients. ⋯ Our experiments demonstrated significant antiallodynic and analgesic properties of PGB in mice. In vitro studies showed that this drug is metabolically neutral. It did not cause motor coordination impairments in diabetic animals either. These effects might be of great importance for diabetic patients.
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Neurological research · Nov 2013
Overriding role of parent over daughter vessel dimension in size ratio detection performance of bifurcation aneurysms ruptured status.
Aneurysm-to-vessel size ratio (SR) predicts rupture status based on the premise that large aneurysms on small vessels are more likely to rupture compared to small aneurysms on larger vessels. While simpler for sidewall-type (function of proximal vessel [PV] only), SR methodology for bifurcation aneurysms requires the overhead of daughter vessels measurement. This study sets to evaluate SR performance on bifurcation aneurysms, and determine the added value of including daughters' measurements. ⋯ Not only is the inclusion of daughter measurements not statistically justified, it may be detrimental to SR performance. Parent-only SR definitions simplify the aneurysmal morphological evaluation at no performance loss. It is reasonable to employ a unified approach regardless of sidewall/bifurcation labeling, by defining SR as aneurysm size to parent vessel ratio and omitting the measurements of the daughter branches.