Role of endothelin-1 in age-dependent cerebrovascular hypotensive responses after brain injury.

This study was designed to compare the effect of fluid percussion brain injury (FPI) on the hypotensive cerebrovascular response in newborn and juvenile pigs as a function of time postinsult and to determine the role of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in any age-dependent differences in hypotensive cerebrovascular regulation after injury. Ten minutes of hypotension (10-15 ml blood/kg) decreased mean arterial blood pressure uniformly in both groups (∼45%). In the newborn, hypotensive pial artery dilation (PAD) was blunted within 1 h, remained diminished for at least 72 h, but was resolved within 168 h postinjury (66 ± 4, 69 ± 4, 71 ± 4, and 64 ± 4% inhibition at 1, 4, 8, and 72 h post-FPI). During normotension, regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was decreased by FPI, and hypotension further reduced the already decremented rCBF for at least 72 h. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) ET-1 was increased from 26 ± 4 to 206 ± 25 pg/ml within 72 h post-FPI, whereas an ET-1 antagonist partially restored impaired hypotensive PAD and altered hypotensive rCBF. In contrast, hypotensive PAD and altered CBF were only inhibited for 4 h post-FPI in the juvenile (56 ± 3 and 34 ± 4% inhibition at 1 and 4 h post-FPI). CSF ET-1 was only increased from 27 ± 4 to 67 ± 9 pg/ml at 4 h, whereas the concentration returned to preinjury value by 8 h post-FPI. ET-1 antagonism similarly partially restored impaired hypotensive PAD and altered hypotensive rCBF. These data show that FPI disturbs cerebral autoregulation during hypotension both to a greater magnitude and for a longer duration in the newborn than in the juvenile. These data suggest that the greater FPI-induced ET-1 release in the newborn could contribute to age-dependent differences in impaired hypotensive cerebral autoregulation after FPI.