Effects of glycerol infusions on brain water and electrolytes

Guisado, Raul; Ai, Arieff; Sg, Massry

doi:10.1152/ajplegacy.1974.227.4.865

Cited by 30 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The quantitative effects of glycerol on pOSM coincide with earlier studies using comparable doses to our glycerol doses on animals [12,20], patients with intracranial hypertension [7,8] and healthy individuals [3]. Nevertheless, this is the first study to document the increases in pOSM based on a larger number of conscious human participants, both diabetic and healthy.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Effects of Peroral Glycerol on Plasma Osmolarity in Diabetic Patients and Healthy Individuals

Thornit

Sander

Cour

et al. 2009

Basic Clin Pharma Tox

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Glycerol is used as a peroral treatment of increased intraocular and intracranial pressure due to its osmotic effect despite the potential increase in blood pressure and blood glucose. We examined the effects of peroral glycerol in diabetic patients and healthy individuals on blood pressure, capillary glucose, and plasma osmolarity. On two separate days, 15 diabetic patients ingested glycerol in doses of 855 and 1710 mg ⁄ kg body weight in a randomised, unmasked sequence. Five healthy individuals ingested a dose of 1710 mg ⁄ kg body weight. Mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), capillary glucose (CG) and plasma osmolarity (pOSM) were monitored for 180 min. At baseline, the MAP was comparable between the groups of healthy individuals and diabetic patients (p = 0.55), CG was marginal different (p = 0.06), and pOSM values were significantly different (p = 0.007). Following glycerol ingestion, a transient, non-significant increase occurred in blood pressure. Maximal DCG was approximately 1 mM irrespective of the dose and presence of diabetes (p > 0.1). The pOSM response was analysed with a kinetic model and found independent of the presence of diabetes (p = 0.6). The maximal fitted DpOSM was 12.7 and 25.3 mOsm ⁄ l in the group of diabetic patients after the low and high dose, respectively, reflecting a dose-response relationship. Nausea, fatigue and headache were common side effects. In conclusion, peroral glycerol had similar effects on blood glucose, MAP and pOSM in the diabetic patients and healthy individuals. Specific precautions should not be implemented when treating diabetic patients with a single dose up to 1.7 g ⁄ kg body weight. A peak increase of 8% in the pOSM within 1 hr can be expected from this dose.Glycerol is an osmotic agent, which is primarily used for therapeutic purposes to lower severely increased intraocular or intracranial pressure [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. Alternatively, some athletes drink glycerol solutions for hyperhydration during longlasting physical challenges [9].Although glycerol treatments are widely used, few studies on the drug's pharmacokinetic effects have been published [1]. Our pharmacodynamic knowledge mainly arises from even older studies, often on animals, concentrating on glycerol's pressurelowering effect on either the brain or the eyes [3,6,7,[10][11][12][13][14].Documentation of how much glycerol affects the blood pressure is scarce [3], and controversy exists on the effect on blood glucose in both healthy and diabetic patients [2,7,[15][16][17]. Furthermore, descriptions of glycerol's other side effects are mostly based on scattered information and casuistic reports [2,5,13,14,18,19]. We therefore investigated whether the changes in plasma osmolarity (pOSM), blood pressure, blood glucose and general side effects are similar in diabetic patients and in healthy individuals after peroral administration of glycerol. Two doses of glycerol were used to test any difference in dose response. MethodsFifteen diabetic patients from our outpatient ward and five healthy in...

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…Although glycerol treatments are widely used, few studies on the drug's pharmacokinetic effects have been published [1]. Our pharmacodynamic knowledge mainly arises from even older studies, often on animals, concentrating on glycerol's pressurelowering effect on either the brain or the eyes [3,6,7,[10][11][12][13][14].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Peroral Glycerol on Plasma Osmolarity in Diabetic Patients and Healthy Individuals

Thornit

Sander

Cour

et al. 2009

Basic Clin Pharma Tox

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The increased osmolality is undoubtedly partly a result of the high plasma glycerol level which at a level of 75 mg/dl would contribute 8 mosmol. The absence of any apparent physiological response to the increased osmolality in the form of excessive thirst or evidence of increased output of antidiuretic hormone is explainable by the ready diffusion of glycerol across cell membranes, including those of the central nervous system (28). This would normalize the osmotic pressure differential between the intra-and the extracellular fluid compartments and obviate a physiological response for water retention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Familial hyperglycerolemia.

Rose¹,

Haines²

1978

J. Clin. Invest.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…On the other hand, it has also been reported that the decrease in water content resulting from glycerol treatment was more significant in the oedematous brain than in the normal brain (Bralet et al 1983). Moreover, previous studies have primarily focused on oedema induced by cerebral microembolization (Bralet et al 1983), infarction (Meyer et al 1971(Meyer et al , 1975, ischaemia (Dodson et al 1975;Ohta et al 1990;Suga et al 1990) and cold injury (Guisado et al 1974(Guisado et al , 1976. The effects of glycerol treatment on traumatic oedema resulting from mechanical injury, a situation closely resembling clinical conditions, have not been studied.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(ICP) (Absolon 1966;Rottenberg et al 1977;MacDonald & Uden 1982;Pitlick et al 1982;Wald & McLaurin 1982;Node & Nakazawa 1990;Woster & Leblanc 1990). The mechanism involves osmotic dehydration of the brain by the establishment of an osmotic gradient between the high plasma and low Since its introduction into clinical practice in 1966, glycerol has been widely regarded as a safe and effective agent in rapidly reducing intracranial pressure cerebral concentration of glycerol.Al;hough the effect of glycerol on reducing ICP has been widely studied, its effects on the oedematous brain remain controversial (Guisado et al 1974(Guisado et al , 1976Bralet et al 1983) been evaluated by direct measurement of tissue water content. In a limited number of reports it has been shown that glycerol produced different dehydrating effects on various types of cerebral oedema.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Glycerol Dehydrates Oedematous as Well as Normal Brain in Dogs

Wang

Chen

1994

Clin Exp Pharma Physio

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

1. Although the effect of glycerol on reducing intracranial pressure has been widely investigated, only a few studies have reported its dehydrating effect on brain oedema caused by infarction, ischaemia, microembolism and cold injury, but none on traumatic oedema. In this study the effects of glycerol (1 g/kg, i.v. bolus infusion at a rate of 0.04 g/kg per min) on traumatic and cryogenic cerebral oedema and on normal brain were compared in the anaesthetized dog. The tissue water content was measured with the gravimetric method. 2. Oedema resulting from mechanical trauma was initiated 4 h prior to treatment with glycerol (8 dogs) or vehicle (5 dogs) by closed head contusion with fixed force under general anaesthesia. Tissue samples underneath the region of contusion were taken, before and 1 h after infusion of glycerol or vehicle, for the measurement of water content. 3. Glycerol infusion decreased the water content in white matter of the traumatic brain model from 76.54 +/- 1.70% to 70.73 +/- 1.54% (P < 0.001). In normal brain the reduction was from 68.42 +/- 0.48% to 65.36 +/- 0.39% (P < 0.001). Neither vehicle nor glycerol infusion resulted in significant changes in specific gravity of the gray matter. 4. Cryogenic oedema was initiated 3 h prior to the infusion of glycerol or vehicle by applying unilaterally a brass conical cup (bottom diameter 1 cm) filled with dry ice-acetone (-65 degrees C) to the exposed dura for 1 min. The contralateral hemisphere, which was not subjected to cold injury, was used for determination of water content of normal gray and white matter. 5. Glycerol infusion decreased the water content in the white matter of the cold-injured region from 75.38 +/- 0.69% to 72.57 +/- 0.58% (P < 0.001). In the normal white matter the reduction was from 68.63 +/- 0.34% to 65.48 +/- 0.49% (P < 0.001). 6. Our data indicate that glycerol decreases water content of the white matter in traumatic and cold-injured oedematous brain as well as in normal brain.

show abstract

Effects of glycerol infusions on brain water and electrolytes

Cited by 30 publications

References 0 publications

The Effects of Peroral Glycerol on Plasma Osmolarity in Diabetic Patients and Healthy Individuals

The Effects of Peroral Glycerol on Plasma Osmolarity in Diabetic Patients and Healthy Individuals

Familial hyperglycerolemia.

Glycerol Dehydrates Oedematous as Well as Normal Brain in Dogs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About