The Role of Periostin in Brain Injury Caused by Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Abstract

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) causes serious brain injury and the mechanisms have not been completely found out yet. The causative factors of brain injury initiated by aneurysm rupture, which is called as early brain injury (EBI), consists of elevated intracranial pressure, cerebral hypoperfusion and blood contents directly exposed to brain surface. At 4-14 days post-aSAH, delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) often develops and may critically worsen neurological outcomes. DCI may be the sequence of EBI. Understanding the complex mechanisms of post-aSAH brain injury (EBI and DCI) is thus important to improve the outcome. In addition, many biomarkers possibly associated with EBI, DCI and neurological outcome have been investigated, but none of them is conclusive. A matricellular protein periostin is emerging as a potentially important contributor to EBI and DCI, and can serve as a biomarker and a therapeutic molecular target for EBI and DCI. In this article, the possible role of periostin in aSAH is reviewed.