The Effects of Nimodipine on Experimental Vasospam of the Femoral Artery in Rats.

Kim, Jung Chul; Choi, Chang Rak

Original Article

Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society 1992;21(6): 678-687.

¹Department of Neurosurgery, Korea Veterans Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
²Department of Neurosurgery, Catholic University Medical College, Seoul, Korea.

ABSTRACT

Cerebral vasospasm is the leading cause of death and disability in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage due to repture of a cerebral aeurysm. But etiology of the vasospasm is not known despite extensive clinical and experimental investigations. The man objectives of this experiment were to develop a new animal model for vasospasm using the femoral artery in rat and to evaluate the pathologic changes of vessel and the effects of nimodipine(calcium angagonist) on vasospasm by quantitative assessment of radial wall thickness, cross-sectional areas of arterial lumen and vessel wall. Thirty rats were divided into three groups;A skin incision was made on both inguinal areas and both proximal femoral arteries were exposed under the surgical microscope. And then 0.1ml of fresh autologous whole blood was applied directly to the femoral artery and covered with silastic cuff(spasm group). The right femoral artery was covered with silastic cuff without application of the blood(control group). A nimodipine group was produced by injection nimodipine through the intraperitoneal route after application of blood on let femoral artery. The morphological changes were investigated at 2(n=3), 5(n=3), 7(n=3), 10(n=3), and 5 days(n=3) after application of whold blood. The results were as follows; 1) A new animal model for vasospasm using the femoral artery in rat was developed. 2) As compared with control group, the arterial narrowing was present at 2days, was maximal at 7 days, and return to near control level by 20 days. 3) In the spasm group, there were a corrugation of the intima and internal elastic lamina, and thickening and vacuolization in the media on the light microscope. These histological changes suggested that the model of the femoral artery in rat was analogous to experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage. 4) There was a significant decrease in cross-sectional areas of the vessel lumen in both spasm(p<0.005) and nimodipine groups(p<0.005). Also the radial wall thickness was significantly increased in the spasm(p< and nimodipine groups(p<0.005), but there was no significant differences in measured cross-sectional areas of the vessel wall among all the groups. 5) The nimodipine group was different from the spasm group for all quantitative assessments, especially in the luminal areas and wall thickness at 7 days(p<0.05). As the results, the femoral artery in rat may serve as a model for investigations of pathogenesis and therapeutic intervention to study vasospasm and nimodipine seemed to be an effective calcium antagonist to treat and prevent vasoapasm.

Key Words: Nimodipine; Vasoapasm; Femoral artery