Role of nitric oxide in traumatic brain injury in the rat

Object. Although nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to play an important role in the pathophysiological process of cerebral ischemia, its contribution t o the pathogenesis of traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains to be clarified. The authors investigated alterations in constitutive nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity after TBI and the histopathological response to pharmacolog ical manipulations of NO. Methods. Male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent moderate (1.7-2.2 atm) parasagi ttal fluid-percussion brain injury. Constitutive NOS activity significantly increased within the ipsilateral parietal cerebral cortex, which is the si te of histopathological vulnerability, 5 minutes after TBI occurred (234.5 +/- 60.2% of contralateral value [mean +/- standard error of the mean {SEM} ], p < 0.05), returned to control values by 30 minutes (114.1 +/- 17.4%), a nd was reduced at 1 day after TBI (50.5 +/- 13.1%, p < 0.01). The reduction in constitutive NOS activity remained for up to 7 days after TBI (31.8 +/- 6.0% at 3 days, p < 0.05; 20.1 +/- 12.7% at 7 days, p < 0.01). Pretreatmen t with3-bromo-7-nitroindazole (7-NI) (25 mg/kg), a relatively specific inhi bitor of neuronal NOS, significantly decreased contusion volume (1.27 +/- 0 .17 mm(3) [mean +/- SEM], p < 0.05) compared with that of control (2.52 +/- 0.35 mm(3)). However, posttreatment with 7-NI or pre- or posttreatment wit h nitro-L-arginine-methyl ester (L-NAME) (15 mg/kg), a nonspecific inhibito r of NOS, did not affect the contusion volume compared with that of control animals (1.87 +/- 0.46 mm3, 2.13 +/- 0.43 mm(3), and 2.18 +/- 0.53 mm(3), respectively). Posttreatment with L-arginine (1.1 +/- 0.3 mm(3), p < 0.05), but not 3-morpholino-sydnonimine (SIN-1) (2.48 +/- 0.37 mm(3)), significan tly reduced the contusion volume compared with that of control animals. Conclusions. These data indicate that constitutive NOS activity is affected after moderate parasagittal fluid percussion brain injury in a time-depend ent manner. Inhibition of activated neuronal NOS and/or enhanced endothelia l NOS activation may represent a potential therapeutic strategy for the tre atment of TBI.