Regional generation of leukotriene C4 after experimental brain injury in anesthetized rats

Regional concentrations of leukotriene C4 and extravasation of Evans blue were measured after lateral fluid-percussion brain injury in rats. Tissue levels of LTC4 were elevated in the injured cortex at 10 min, 30 min, and 1 h after injury; these levels returned to normal by 2 h after injury. Increases in the levels of LTC4 were also observed in the ipsilateral hippocampus after brain injury, and these elevations persisted for 2 h after injury. No significant increase in levels of LTC4 was observed in the contralateral cortex at any time after injury. A substantial extravasation of Evans blue was observed only in the ipsilateral cortex and hippocampus at 3 h and 6 h after brain injury. Although a temporal association between LTC4 and blood-brain barrier (BBB) breakdown is suggested by these data, no cause-and-effect relationship has been addressed in this study. However, it is possible that, as is true for cerebral ischemia, LTC4 may play a role as a mediator in the BBB breakdown associated with fluid-percussion brain injury in rats.