gms | German Medical Science

Objective: Cerebral vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is the most important complication which effects mortality and morbidity of patients with intracranial aneurysm although effective treatment. Today, the mechanisms of vasospasm is not understood in spite of experimetal and clinical researches. The aim of our study to investigate the effect of curcumin which used in medical treatment of some illness and known antioxidant drug on vasospasm following SAH.

Method: In this study, 200-250 gr weight and 64 rats were divided into 8 groups. Group 1, control group having no SAH; Group 2, having no treatment after SAH; Group 3, treatment with nimodipin after SAH; Group 4, treatment with nicorandil after SAH; Group 5, treatment with sildenafil sitrat after SAH; Group 6, treatment with curcumin 150 mg/kg after SAH; Group 7, treatment with curcumin 300 mg/kg after SAH, Group 8, treatment with curcumin 600 mg/kg after SAH. The experimental SAH was induced by injection of autologous blood taken from hearth into the cisterna magna to groups 2,3,4,5,6,7. After medical treatment, in the 1. hour, blood was taken for quantification of TNFα, IL1β and IL6 levels. Than, cerebrum and cerebellum were excised totaly with craniectomy.

Results: Basilar artery lumen diameter and apoptotic cell count performed with tissue samples. Histopathological findings showed that, in sufficient dose, curcumin dilated basilar artery beside antioxidant effect. Sildenafil has marked effect on vasodilation but has no effect on apoptosis in this study.

Conclusions: In conclusion, nimodipine and nicorandil are compareble with curcumin and we found similar statistcal results between these drugs. Based on this, we can say curcumin effected the vessels through the ion channels. Because of these properties, curcumin can be used for treatment of vasospasm as a new medical drug.