[Transcapillary filtration of electrolytes in the brain after craniocerebral injuries]

A new method was used to determine the value and direction of electrolyte filtration through the walls of capillaries in the brain in patients with craniocerebral injury. It was found that the period of the development of brain edema coincided in time with the prevalence of the processes of sodium, calcium, and fluid escape from the cerebral vessels into the cerebral tissue. The movement of potassium through the capillary wall was counter-current to that of sodium filtration in most cases. Transcapillary filtration of electrolytes in patients with craniocerebral injury during the posttraumatic period was characterized by recurrent changes in the direction of filtration. Electrolytes (sodium, potassium, and calcium) possess their own, often independent of one another, mechanisms of transfer through the membranes of the histohematic barriers.