Pre-treatment effects of walnut kernel (juglans regia) on brain edema, neuronal death and neurological scores in male rat after traumatic brain injury

Javad Ansari,Nader Shahrokhi,Fatemeh Pour,Seyed Eftekhar-Vaghefi,Mohsen Basiri,Majid Asadi-Shekaari

doi:10.7324/japs.2016.601014

Abstract

A common pathology in Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is brain edema that develops within hours of impact. It causes increased intracranial pressure (ICP), and nerve damage. It was shown that Walnut kernel (WK) has a large amount of phenolic compounds with beneficial effects on human health due to antioxidant and anti- inflammatory properties. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of WK feeding on brain edema, neurological score and neuronal degeneration in male rat after traumatic brain injury. The diffuse TBI was induced in adult male rats using Marmarou’s method. Sixty days prior to the injury, WK was added to ordinary food (6% percent of daily food). Experimental groups are included sham (no TBI and no WK), control (TBI and no WK) and treatment (TBI and WK). Brain edema and neuronal injury were measured 72 h after TBI. Veterinary Coma Scale (VCS) and ICP were assessed at -1, 4, 24, 48 and 72 h after TBI. Brain water content and ICP in treatment group decreased as compared to the control. Besides, VCS at 24, 48 and 72 h after TBI showed a significant increase in treatment group in comparison with control. Based on our data, WK pre-treatment may reduce pathological parameters after TBI in male rats.

Highlights

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most important cause of mortality and morbidity among young individuals worldwide.TBI produces an inflammatory reaction that is usually accompanied by intense cell death in different areas of the brain (Saatman et al, 2006)
The present study was designed to investigate the effect of Walnut kernel (WK) feeding on brain edema, neurological score and neuronal degeneration in male rat after traumatic brain injury
Determination of water content The water content of the brain in the different groups, at 72 h post TBI is shown in Fig.1.This figure demonstrates that the brain water content in control group is significantly more than in sham group (p

Summary

Introduction

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most important cause of mortality and morbidity among young individuals worldwide.TBI produces an inflammatory reaction that is usually accompanied by intense cell death in different areas of the brain (Saatman et al, 2006). The cytotoxic events can directly affect patient outcome after TBI, which can be further exacerbated by uncontrolled intracranial pressure (ICP) (Jiang et al, 2002) caused by an increase in brain water content (Griebenow et al, 2007). Walnut kernels (WK) have high concentrations of phenolic compounds, which have positive effects on human health because of their anticonvulsive, neuroprotective, antioxidant and anti-atherogenic effects (Li et al, 2007, Asadi-Shekaari et al, 2012). Walnut kernels are a nutrient-rich food, containing plentiful phospholipids, proteins, unsaturated fatty acids and tocopherols (Labukas et al, 2010)

Methods

Results

Conclusion