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Updated: May 24, 2026
Detecting Behavioral Deficits in Rats After Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: January 30, 2018
Aquaporin 9 in rat brain after severe traumatic brain injury
Hui Liu1, Mei Yang, Guo-ping Qiu
1Institute of Neuroscience, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
Objective:
To reveal the expression and possible roles of aquaporin 9 (AQP9) in rat brain, after severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Methods:
Brain water content (BWC), tetrazolium chloride staining, Evans blue staining, immunohistochemistry (IHC), immunofluorescence (IF), western blot, and real-time polymerase chain reaction were used.
Results:
The BWC reached the first and second (highest) peaks at 6 and 72 hours, and the blood brain barrier (BBB) was severely destroyed at six hours after the TBI. The worst brain ischemia occurred at 72 hours after TBI. Widespread AQP9-positive astrocytes and neurons in the hypothalamus were detected by means of IHC and IF after TBI. The abundance of AQP9 and its mRNA increased after TBI and reached two peaks at 6 and 72 hours, respectively, after TBI.
Conclusions:
Increased AQP9 might contribute to clearance of excess water and lactate in the early stage of TBI. Widespread AQP9-positive astrocytes might help lactate move into neurons and result in cellular brain edema in the later stage of TBI. AQP9-positive neurons suggest that AQP9 plays a role in energy balance after TBI.
