EXTRACELLULAR GLIAL FIBRILLARY ACIDIC PROTEIN AND AMINO-ACIDS IN BRAIN-REGIONS OF PATIENTS WITH SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE - CORRELATION WITH LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND SITE OF BLEEDING

The extracellular fluid of two cortical regions was investigated in ei ght patients who underwent surgery for subarachnoid hemorrhage within 7-96 h after the rupture of an arterial aneurysm. Microdialysis sample s, collected from the cortex of the ipsilateral gyrus rectus and tempo ral lobe for 52-127h were analyzed with respect to amino acids and the glial fibrillary acidic protein. In agreement with a previous study, an inverse relation was observed between total amino acid concentratio n and the level of consciousness. We also found that the concentration of glial fibrillary acidic protein was higher close to the bleeding s ite. Furthermore, we observed specific changes in the concentration of the protein and certain amino acids which coincided with clinical eve nts such as increased intracranial pressure, vasospasm, ischemia and i nfarction. Finally, the concentrations of taurine may corroborate its function as an osmoequivalent.