Assessment of sertraline activity in a vasospasm model following experimental subarachnoid haemorrhage

Abstract

Vasospasm following subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is a process yet to be fully clarified in terms of its aetiology and results. According to one of the many theories about vasospasm developing after SAH, the process results from an increase of pro-inflammatory agents and decrease in antioxidant agents. Other hand experimental studies on rats found a significant decrease in the pro-inflammatory parameters TNF-? and IL-1? in the blood values obtained after the use of sertraline. In this study, the findings regarding the effectiveness of sertraline in the treatment of vasospasm developing an experimental SAH model are presented. In this study, adult males of Spraque-Dawley breed, not used in any previous study and weighing between 250–350 g, were used. Rats were divided into 4 groups with the control group (n=5) and other groups (n=6 in each). Group 1 was the control, and Group 3 was the sertraline group. In Groups 2 and 4, SAH was initiated by giving rats autologous arterial blood in the cisterna magna. The tissues were examined in terms of mononuclear cell infiltration, vascular congestion, and neuron degeneration. In the experimental SAH model based on these values, it was found that the use of sertraline significantly reduced mononuclear cell infiltration, vascular congestion, and neuron degeneration. Moreover, in animal studies, it was shown that SSRIs increased neurogenesis and release of neurotrophins from the hippocampus. In our study, it was concluded that sertraline was effective in dissolving vasospasm in the experimental SAH model. However, we further believe that more experimental studies to investigate other SSRI compounds of the same family can contribute to the knowledge and understanding of this process.