Magnetic Resonance Images, Pathological Features of Thrombus, and Expression of NLRP Inflammasome in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate imaging features of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), pathological features of thrombus, and expression of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptors protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Their relationship with the prognosis of patients was also explored. Sixty patients with AIS admitted to the hospital were selected as the observation group, and 20 healthy objects were in the control group. The shape of the thrombus was observed by MRI, pathological features of the thrombus were observed under hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and the levels of NLRP3 inflammasome and inflammatory factors in serum were detected. The MRI-T2 weighted imaging (T2WI) signal ratio and plaque enhancement rate in the observation group were higher than those in the control group significantly (P < 0.05). In the observation group, the red/mixed thrombus in 6–12 h and 24 h were also much higher than that in 6 h (P < 0.05). The levels of NLRP3, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-18 (IL-18), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the observation group were higher than those in the control group in 6 h, 6–12 h, and 24 h (P < 0.05), and those reached the highest levels in 24 h. The ratio of fibrins/platelets in the cardiogenic thrombus reached (63.8 ± 15.6) %, which was significantly higher than that in the large-artery atherosclerotic thrombus (49.5 ± 14.2) %, P < 0.05. The ratio of red blood cells (RBCs) in the large atherosclerotic thrombus was (30.7 ± 14.3) %, considerably lower than (42.9 ± 15.2) %, P < 0.05. The prognosis of patients with the fibrin/platelet-rich thrombus was highly lower than that with the RBC-rich thrombus (P < 0.05). The levels with poor prognosis were higher than those with good prognosis (P < 0.05). MRI could be used to assist in the assessment of brain conditions in patients with AIS. NLRP3 inflammasome was involved in the inflammatory response of AIS and can be used for predicting the poor prognosis, having a certain clinical application value. In addition, different types of thrombi also laid a certain impact on prognosis.