THE PROLONGED AND DISTANT EFFECTS OF EXPERIMENTAL BRAIN INJURY ON CEREBRAL BLOOD VESSELS AS DEMONSTRATED BY RADIOACTIVE INDICATORS

Abstract

Lesions were produced in the brains of healthy adult rabbits by pouring liquid oxygen into a copper tube sealed to the bare skull and permitting it to freeze for from 10 to 25 seconds. Each animal received intravenous injections of radioactive phosphate and radioactive di-iodo fluorescin. After sacrifice various portions of the brain were removed and analyzed for radioactive content as indicators of vascular changes. There was increased penetration of the indicators within the lesion, diminishing with longer survival. Smaller, long lasting increases occurred in the adjacent and sometimes the contralateral cortex and the hypothalamus with similar less constant changes in the medulla, hippocampus and cerebellum. The cerebro-spinal fluid did not contribute to the increased concentrations which were interpreted to be due to vasodilatation in vivo.