Characterization of ICP Behavior in an Experimental Model of Hemorrhagic Stroke in Rats

Abstract

Intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring is sometimes required in clinical pictures of stroke, as extensive intraparenchymal hematomas and intracranial bleeding may severely increase ICP, which can lead to irreversible conditions, such as dementia and cognitive derangement. ICP monitoring has been accepted as a procedure for the safe diagnosis of increased ICP, and for the treatment of intracranial hypertension in some diseases. In this work, we evaluated ICP behavior during the induction of an experimental model of autologous blood injection in rats, simulating a hemorrhagic stroke. Rats were subjected to stereotactic surgery for the implantation of a unilateral cannula into the left striatal region of the brain. Autologous blood was infused into the left striatal region with an automatic microinfusion pump. ICP monitoring was performed throughout the procedure of hemorrhagic stroke induction. Analyses consisted of short-time Fourier transform for ICP before and after stroke induction and the histological processing of the animals’ brains. Short-time Fourier transform analysis demonstrated oscillations in the ICP frequency components throughout time after the microinjections compared with data before them. Histological analysis revealed neuropathological changes in the striatum in all microinjected animals.