Effect of posttraumatic hyperglycemia on contusion volume and neutrophil accumulation after moderate fluid-percussion brain injury in rats

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of posttraumatic hyperglycemia on contusion volume and neutrophil accumulation following moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rats. A parasagittal fluid-percussion (F-P) brain injury (1.8-2.1 atm) was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats were then randomized into four trauma groups (n = 7/group) by the timing of dextrose injection (2.0 gm/kg/ip), which included (1) early (E) group: 5 min after TBI; (2) delayed (D) group: 4 h after TBI; (3) 24-h group: 24 h after TBI; or (4) control (C) group: no dextrose injection. A sham operated control group also received dextrose to document physiological parameters (n = 4). Rats were perfusion fixed 3 days following TBI, and the brains were processed for routine histopathological and immunocytochemical analysis. Contusion areas and volumes, as well as the frequency of myeloperoxidase immunoreactive polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNLs) were determined. Dextrose injections significantly increased blood glucose levels (p < 0.005) in all treated groups. Although acute hyperglycemia following TBI did not significantly affect total contusion volume, contusion area was significantly elevated in the early treatment group. In addition, early posttraumatic hyperglycemia enhanced neutrophil accumulation in the area of the cortical contusion (p < 0.005). In contrast, delayed induced hyperglycemia (i.e., 4 h, 24 h) did not significantly affect histopathological outcome or neutrophil accumulation. Taken together, these findings indicate that acute but not delayed hyperglycemia aggravates histopathological outcome and increased accumulation of PMNLs. Posttraumatic hyperglycemia in the acute phase may worsen traumatic outcome by enhancing secondary injury processes, including inflammation.