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Updated: Apr 28, 2026
Establishment of Deep Hypothermic Circulatory Arrest in Rats
Published on: December 16, 2022
Effects of deep hypothermic circulatory arrest on the blood brain barrier in a cardiopulmonary bypass model--a pilot
Karsten Bartels1, Qing Ma1, Talaignair N Venkatraman2
1Department of Anesthesiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
Background:
Neurologic injury is common after cardiac surgery and disruption of the blood brain barrier (BBB) has been proposed as a contributing factor. We sought to study BBB characteristics in a rodent model of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA).
Methods:
Adult rats were subjected to CPB/DHCA or to sham surgery. Analysis included Western blotting of relevant BBB proteins in addition to in vivo brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a clinically used low-molecular contrast agent.
Results:
While quantitative analysis of BBB proteins revealed similar expression levels, MRI showed evidence of BBB disruption after CPB/DHCA compared to sham surgery.
Conclusions:
Combining molecular BBB analysis and MRI technology in a rodent model is a highly translatable approach to study adverse neurologic outcomes following CPB/DHCA.
