INFLUENCE OF NEUROTROPIN ON THE WATER-CONTENT AND REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF 2 MINOR AND 6 TRACE-ELEMENTS IN HUMAN BRAINS AFFECTED BY RECENT MIDDLE CEREBRAL-ARTERY INFARCTS

The water content and concentration of eight elements (i.e. K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Se and Rb) were measured in postmortem samples of recent cerebral infarcts in the territory of the middle cerebral artery. The elemental determinations were performed by particle-induced X-ray emis sion analysis. Five patients had been treated with neurotropin and 6 w ith placebo. The most striking finding was a less significant increase in the water content in the white matter of the infarcts of patients who had been treated with neurotropin compared to those on placebo. De creases in intracytoplasmic elements, such as Rb and Cu, and increases in Ca were more clearly present in the infarcts of patients who had b een treated with placebo compared to neurotropin. This postmortem stud y in 11 humans shows that neurotropin inhibits vasogenic edema associa ted with recent cerebral infarction and protects against ischemic brai n damage.