Treatment of TBI and Concomitant Hemorrhage with Ghrelin

Abstract

TBI and hemorrhagic shock, the most common causes of trauma deaths, often occur concomitantly due to multiple injuries. Hemorrhagic shock markedly exacerbates secondary damage in the traumatically injured brain and doubles TBI mortality. Therefore, a therapeutic intervention to treat posttraumatic hypotension and prevent secondary ischemia would be a powerful tool to improve outcome after brain injury. Ghrelin is a ?gut-brain? hormone mostly produced by the stomach. In this project, we first established a highly military relevant experimental rat model of TBI combined with uncontrolled hemorrhagic shock, and then evaluated the efficacy of ghrelin using this model. Our results showed that ghrelin improves sensorimotor and reflex function, reduces cortical apoptosis and downregulates brain inflammation after traumatic brain injury and uncontrolled hemorrhagic shock. Thus, ghrelin can be further developed as an effective resuscitation approach for trauma victims with brain injury and severe blood loss, especially for the use in combat casualty care at the far-forward battlefield setting.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 2010
Accession Number
ADA542121

Entities

People

  • Rongqian Wu

Organizations

  • The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Animal Structures
  • Apoptosis
  • Battlefields
  • Biomedical Research
  • Blast
  • Blast Injuries
  • Blood
  • Brain Injuries
  • Central Nervous System
  • Combat Casualty Care
  • Hemorrhage
  • Hemorrhagic Shock
  • Inflammation
  • Intervention
  • Ischemia
  • Nervous System
  • Resuscitation

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Gulf War Illness and Chronic Multisymptom Illness in Veterans.
  • Neurotrauma and Rehabilitation Medicine.