Objective-Accumulated evidence suggests that the primary cause of poor outcome after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is not only cerebral arterial narrowing, but also early brain injury (EBI). Our objective was to determine the effect of recombinant osteopontin (r-OPN), a pleiotropic extracellular matrix glycoprotein, on post-SAH EBI in rats.
Design-Controlled in vivo laboratory study.
Setting-Animal research laboratory.Subjects-One hundred seventy-seven male adult Sprague-Dawley rats, 300-370g.Interventions-The endovascular perforation model of SAH was produced. SAH or shamoperated rats were treated with an equal volume (1μL) of pre-SAH intracerebroventricular administration of two dosages (0.02 and 0.1μg) of r-OPN, albumin or vehicle. Body weight, neurological scores, brain edema and blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption were evaluated, and Western blot analyses were performed to determine the effect of r-OPN on matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9, substrates of MMP-9 (zona occludens [ZO]-1, laminin), tissue inhibitor of MMP (TIMP)-1, inflammation (interleukin-1β), and nuclear factor (NF)-κ B signaling pathways.
Measurements and MainResults-Treatment with r-OPN prevented a significant loss in body weight, neurological impairment, brain edema, and BBB disruption after SAH. These effects were associated with the deactivation of NF-κB activity, inhibition of MMP-9 induction, the maintenance of TIMP-1, and the consequent preservation of the cerebral microvessel basal lamina protein laminin, and the tight junction protein ZO-1.Conclusions-These results demonstrate that r-OPN treatment is effective for post-SAH EBI. Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a common and devastating neurological disorder (1). Cerebral vasospasm has been believed to be a leading cause of mortality and morbidity (2). Recent randomized clinical trials, however, showed that clazosentan significantly reduced angiographic vasospasm but failed to improve long-term neurological outcome (3,4). This means that the treatment efforts targeting only angiographic vasospasm might not be enough to achieve a better outcome. Thus, new research efforts have focused on clarifying the pathophysiology of early brain injury (EBI) following SAH, and on developing protective strategies against it (5).Osteopontin (OPN) is a secreted extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoprotein that is involved in both physiological and pathological processes in a wide range of tissue (6). The biological functions of OPN are highly variable, and often seemingly contradictory depending on the biological scenario surrounding its induction (7). However, there is compelling evidence that OPN can, in a variety of situations, help cells survive an otherwise lethal insult (8). For example, endogenous OPN induction has consistently been found to have protective effects on ischemic injuries involving the brain and other organs (9,10). Moreover, the administration of recombinant OPN (r-OPN) markedly reduced the infarct size via anti-apoptotic actions in a transient focal cerebral ischemi...