Using the Reduced Uterine Perfusion Pressure model of preeclampsia to study the blood brain barrier permeability

Authors

  • Daniele Cristóvão Escouto Escola de Medicina da PUCRS Hospital São Lucas da PUCRS
  • Giovani Gadonski
  • Luiz Porcello-Marrone
  • Jaderson Costa da Costa
  • Nathália Paludo
  • Rayssa Ruszkowski do Amaral
  • Bartira Ercília Pinheiro da Costa
  • Carlos Eduardo Poli-de-Figueiredo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/1980-6108.2018.2.29631

Keywords:

animal models, blood-brain barrier, preeclampsia, eclampsia, toxemia of pregnancy, hypertension, posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome, pregnancy complications.

Abstract

AIMS: To use the Reduced Uterine Perfusion Pressure (RUPP) model for preeclampsia to describe and evaluate the blood brain barrier permeability in pregnant rats.

METHODS: Forty-one pregnant Wistar rats were divided into different intervention groups between 13 to 15 days of gestation: Pregnant-Control (PC; n=12), Reduced Uterine Perfusion Pressure (RUPP; n=15), Invasive Blood Pressure-Control (IBP; n=7) and Reduced Uterine Perfusion Pressure and Invasive Blood Pressure (RUPP-IBP; n=7). The 14 rats of groups IBP and RUPP-IBP had their mean arterial pressure measured at day 21. All animals were then sacrificed, administered Evans Blue dye through the tail vein and perfused with paraformaldehyde 4%. Brains were removed and evaluated by a blinded pathologist. Results are presented as means and standard errors. Comparisons between the groups were performed using Student's t-test for continuous variables and Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables. Statistical significance was set as a p value less than 0.05.

RESULTS: Mean arterial pressure averaged 85.4±2.2 mmHg in the IPB group and 102.5±8.3 mmHg in the RUPP-IPB group (p=0.002). Among all the RUPP rats (RUPP and RUPP-IBP groups), 82% had a positive staining with Evans Blue dye for at least one of the brain hemispheres, while none of the pregnant control rats (PC and IBP groups) had brain staining (p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: In this study, altered permeability of the blood brain barrier was successfully reproduced in pregnant rats exposed to the RUPP protocol. Therefore, we concluded that the RUPP model is a valid surrogate to study blood brain barrier abnormalities.

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References

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Published

2018-06-11

How to Cite

Escouto, D. C., Gadonski, G., Porcello-Marrone, L., Costa da Costa, J., Paludo, N., do Amaral, R. R., … Poli-de-Figueiredo, C. E. (2018). Using the Reduced Uterine Perfusion Pressure model of preeclampsia to study the blood brain barrier permeability. Scientia Medica, 28(2), ID29631. https://doi.org/10.15448/1980-6108.2018.2.29631

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