Artikel
Biomarkers: A novel tool for the monitoring of severe brain injury
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Veröffentlicht: | 23. April 2004 |
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Gliederung
Text
Calcium-induced proteolytic processes are considered key players in traumatic brain injury (TBI). This study was initiated to detect spectrin-breakdown product (SBDP) accumulation in the ventricular cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 12 severe TBI-patients with raised intracranial pressure (ICP). Nine patients with acute hydrocephalus and five, undergone diagnostic lumbar puncture constituted the control groups. SBDP were detected in Western blots. The results of our study demonstrated a reliable temporal pattern for non-erythroid alpha-II-spectrin and SBDP accumulation in TBI reaching significantly higher level in comparison with other pathological conditions associated with increased ICP. A tendency for negative correlation between the accumulation of spectrin and some SBDP and injury severity could be observed. SBDP-levels may provide useful information on the severity of brain injury of various origin and particularly could be important in the monitoring of proteolytic processes in TBI.
These results will be contrasted with findigs of rodent experiments analyzing the occurrence and concentration of non-erythroid alpha-II-spectrin and SBDP in various experimental models of TBI while also discussing potential utilization of other surrogate biomarkers.