Systemic steroid pretreatment improves cerebral protection after circulatory arrest Dominique Shum-Tim, MD, Christo I Tchervenkov, MD, Al-Maleek Jamal, BS, Toni Nimeh, MD, Chwan-Yau Luo, MD, Edgar Chedrawy, MD, Eric Laliberte, Anie Philip, PhD, Colin P Rose, MD, Josee Lavoie, MD The Annals of Thoracic Surgery Volume 72, Issue 5, Pages 1465-1472 (November 2001) DOI: 10.1016/S0003-4975(01)03129-0
Fig 1 Results of colloid oncotic pressure (COP, in mm Hg). The mean baseline COP was not different between groups but significantly decreased in the pump prime group (Group PP) versus the pretreated group (Group PT) at 6 hours postoperatively. (*p = 0.003.) The Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2001 72, 1465-1472DOI: (10.1016/S0003-4975(01)03129-0)
Fig 2 Spectrophotometric analysis of cerebral trypan blue (ng/g dry tissue) showed significantly higher content in the animals receiving steroid in pump prime. (*p = 0.001.) (Group PP = pump prime group; Group PT = pretreated group.) The Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2001 72, 1465-1472DOI: (10.1016/S0003-4975(01)03129-0)
Fig 3 Representative immunohistochemical assays of cerebral TGF-β1 (magnification ×40). (A) Negative control staining without primary antibody. (B) Positive TGF-β1 expression (arrows) in sham brain without exposure to deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. (C) Absence of TGF-β1 expression in the pump prime (group PP) animals. (D) TGF-β1 expression in the pretreated (group PT) animals (arrows) resembled that in sham specimens. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2001 72, 1465-1472DOI: (10.1016/S0003-4975(01)03129-0)
Fig 4 Immunohistochemical assays of caspase-3 activity in representative specimens. Note the extensive perivascular parenchymal involvement in addition to endothelial cells activation in the pump prime group (A and B) compared with the pretreated group (C and D; magnifications ×100). The Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2001 72, 1465-1472DOI: (10.1016/S0003-4975(01)03129-0)