ENDOTHELIN AND NITRIC OXIDE CONCENTRATION IN PATIENTS WITH POSTRAUMATIC SUBRACHNOID HEMORRHAGE CEREBRAL VASOSPASM

Objective To evaluate the relations between endothelin(ET) and nitric oxide(NO) contents of blood and cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) and the development of cerebral vasospasm(CVS) and clinical symptom of subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH) patients with brian injury.Methods The content of ET was assayed by radioimmunological technique,and NO was by HNO3 reductase method.Results The ET contents of both blood and CSF in SAH patients were singnifcantly higher than those in normal group(P0.05),and the ET contents in serious group were higher than those in slight group(P0.05).The contents of both blood and CSF in the same patients were singnifcantly lower than those in normal group(P0.05) and the NO contents in serious group were lower than those in slight group(P0.05).Conclusion The occurrence of CVS following SAH and the delayed cerebral ischemia is due to continuous constriction of cerebral artery,which is mediated by the increase of ET content and the decrease of NO content,and the degree of clinical symptoms is in positive correlation to the raised degree of ET content and the reduced content of NO content.It suggests that the disturbance of ET and NO plays an important role in the mechanism of CVS development cerebral Vasospasm following tSAH.