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65th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

11 - 14 May 2014, Dresden

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Iterative long-term hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) potentiates recovery after traumatic brain injury (TBI) by enhancing remyelination in the rat model

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  • Klaus Kraitsy - Research Unit for Experimental Neurotraumatology, Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Muammer Ücal - Research Unit for Experimental Neurotraumatology, Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Stefan Grossauer - Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Lukas Bruckmann - Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Florentina Pfleger - Research Unit for Experimental Neurotraumatology, Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Stefan Ropele - Neuroimaging Research Unit, Department of Neurology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Franz Fazekas - Neuroimaging Research Unit, Department of Neurology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Gerda Grünbacher - Research Unit for Experimental Neurotraumatology, Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Silke Patz - Research Unit for Experimental Neurotraumatology, Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Markus Absenger - Core Facility Microscopy, Centre for Medical Research, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Christian Porubsky - Clinical Division of Thorax- and hyperbaric Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Freyja Smolle-Jüttner - Clinical Division of Thorax- and hyperbaric Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Irem Tezer - Clinical Division of Thorax- and hyperbaric Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Ulrike Fasching - Research Unit for Experimental Neurotraumatology, Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
  • Ute Schäfer - Research Unit for Experimental Neurotraumatology, Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 65. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC). Dresden, 11.-14.05.2014. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2014. DocDI.17.03

doi: 10.3205/14dgnc232, urn:nbn:de:0183-14dgnc2326

Published: May 13, 2014

© 2014 Kraitsy et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Objective: Cells of the central nervous system rely almost exclusively on aerobic metabolism. Oxygen deprivation, such as injury-associated ischemia, results in detrimental apoptotic and necrotic cell loss. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) was demonstrated to support the recovery of damaged tissue. We analyzed the effects of long-term repetitive HBOT treatment following moderate and severe injury.

Method: Animals were allocated into the following groups: (1) sham-operated animals, (2) moderate TBI, (3) moderate TBI with HBOT, (4) severe TBI and (5) severe TBI with HBOT. Repetitive long-term HBO treatment was implemented as follows: animals were treated on days 1-3, 7-9, 13-15, and 19-21 following trauma induction. Neurological tests, SEP-measurements and MRI scans were performed on the days following treatment (4, 10, 16 and 22). Brain tissue for ICH and Western Blots was harvested at the same respective time points.

Results: Three weeks post-trauma, the central conduction time (CCT) was longer in injured animals and a significant recovery was observed upon HBOT treatment. These effects could be correlated with a higher density of myelination in the ipsilateral cortex after three weeks of HBOT, demonstrated by an increase in luxol fast blue staining and the 21.5-kDa myelin basic protein (MBP) isoform expression. In line with this, we found a downregulation of proteolipid protein (PLP) expression in the ipsilateral cortex after TBI. PLP expression was detectable again after 22 days in the HBOT group.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that HBO treatment may augment neuronal and neurophysiological function in damaged cerebral tissue due to remyelination events. These regenerative processes are based on repetitive long-term HBO treatment of the injured animals.