Delayed onset of prolonged hypothermia improves outcome after intracerebral hemorrhage in rats

Prolonged hypothermia reduces ischemic brain injury, but its efficacy after intracerebral hemorrhagic (ICH) stroke is unresolved. Rats were implanted with core temperature telemetry probes and subsequently subjected to an ICH, which was produced by infusing bacterial collagenase into the striatum. Animals were kept normothermic (NORMO), or were made mildly hypothermic (33-35degreesC) for over 2 days starting I hour (HYP-1), 6 hours (HYP-6), or 12 hours (HYP-12) after collagenase infusion. Others were cooled for 7 hours beginning I hour after infusion (BRIEF). Skilled reaching, walking, and spontaneous forelimb use were assessed. Normothermic ICH rats sustained, on average, a 36.9-mm(3) loss of tissue at I month. Only the HYP-12 group had a significantly smaller lesion (25.5 mm(3)). Some functional improvements were found with this and other hypothermia treatments. Cerebral edema was observed in NORMO rats, and was not lessened significantly by hypothermia (HYP-12). Blood pressure measurements, as determined by telemetry, in BRIEF rats showed that hypothermia increased blood pressure. This BRIEF treatment also resulted in significantly more bleeding at 12 hours after ICH (79.2 muL) versus NORMO-treated rats (58.4 muL) as determined by a spectrophotometric hemoglobin assay. Accordingly, these findings suggest that early hypothermia may fail to lessen lesion size owing to complications, such as elevated blood pressure, whereas much-delayed hypothermia is beneficial after ICH. Future experiments should assess whether counteracting the side effects of early hypothermia enhances protection.