SERUM NEURON-SPECIFIC ENOLASE IS A MARKER FOR NEURONAL DAMAGE FOLLOWING STATUS EPILEPTICUS IN THE RAT

We determined the serum concentrations of neuron-specific enolase (s-N SE) in rat pups of 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks of age and in adult rats that were subjected to lithium-pilocarpine status epilepticus (SE). Damage to brain regions was rated on a scale of 0 (no damage) to 5 (> 50% cel l loss). Rat pups of 1-2 weeks of age had a higher baseline s-NSE than the adults. Following SE, 1 week old rat pups had no elevation of s-N SE and no histologic evidence of damage. At older ages the increases i n NSE ranged from 18.9 +/- 0.8 ng/ml in the 2 week old (vs. 11.5 +/- 0 .5 control) to 35.8 +/- 2.1 ng/ml in the 3 week old (vs. 12.1 +/- 0.8 control). In the adult rats s-NSE increased from 5.4 +/- 0.4 in the co ntrol animals to 30.4 +/- 1.3 after SE. The different brain regions ex amined had distinctive ontogenic profiles for SE-induced damage. Eleva tion of s-NSE after SE correlated with overall histologic evidence for damage. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.