Bloody cerebrospinal fluid alters contractility of cultured arteries

The pathogenesis of cerebral vasospasm that follows aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is poorly understood. Multiple methods have been used to clarify the mechanism of spasmogen-induced vasospasm however, each method h as its own limitations. Cultured cells lose their phenotype and inter-cellu lar interactions, and animal models are expensive and can be used only in s ome established centers. Isolated cerebral arteries have been used extensiv ely to study the co,contractility by transient exposure to spasmogens that, however, can hardly represent cerebral vasospasm that occurs 2-4 days afte r SAH. In this study, we cultured arteries with bloody cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients of cerebral vasospasm and studied the contractility of the arteries 1, 3 and 4 days later This method preserves artery wall struct ure, prolongs exposure of artery to bloody CSF, and is simple and inexpensi ve. Cultured rat aorta showed enhanced contractile response to 5-HT (p < 0. 001) but reduced response to KCl (p < 0.05) 4 days after culturing with blo ody CSF. We concluded that the contractility of arteries was modified by pr olonged incubation with bloody CSF. Our observations in this study could be important and may explain some aspects of pathogenesis of cerebral vasospa sm.