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Ann Thorac Surg 1999;67:371-376
© 1999 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
a Division of Cardiac Surgery, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and Kennedy-Krieger Research Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Address reprint requests to Dr Baumgartner, Division of Cardiac Surgery, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Blalock 618, 600 North Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21287
e-mail: wbaumgar{at}welchlink.welch.jhu.edu
Presented at the Poster Session of the Thirty-fourth Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, New Orleans, LA Jan 2628, 1998.
| Abstract |
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Methods. Ten dogs underwent intracerebral microdialysis and 2 hours of HCA at 18°C. Effluent was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. Five dogs each were sacrificed at 8 and 20 hours after HCA. Neuronal apoptosis was scored from 0 (no injury) to 100 (severe injury).
Results. Time course of HCA was divided into six periods. Peak levels of amino acids in each period were compared with those at baseline. Glutamate, coagonist glycine, and citrulline, an equal coproduct of nitric oxide, increased significantly over baseline during HCA, cardiopulmonary bypass, and 2 to 8 hours after HCA. Aspartate increased significantly during HCA and 8 to 20 hours after HCA. Apoptosis score was 65.56 ± 5.67 at 8 hours and 30.63 ± 14.96 at 20 hours after HCA.
Conclusions. Our results provide direct evidence that HCA causes increased intracerebral glutamate and aspartate, along with coagonist glycine. We conclude that HCA causes glutamate excitotoxicity with subsequent nitric oxide production resulting in neurologic injury, which begins during arrest and continues until 20 hours after hypothermic circulation arrest. To provide effective cerebral protection, pharmacologic strategies to reduce glutamate excitotoxicity require intervention beyond the initial ischemic insult.
| Introduction |
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In other neurologic disorders, including Huntington disease, neuropathic pain syndromes, stroke, cerebral ischemia, hypoxia, anoxia, and carbon monoxide poisoning, strong evidence suggests that injury to neurons might be caused by overstimulation of excitatory amino acid receptors, including glutamate and aspartate [8]. This excitotoxicity is predominantly mediated by calcium influx through ionic channels of activated glutamate receptors. Calcium triggers a cascade of intracellular reactions, including nitric oxide production, which results in neuronal degeneration and death.
Previous work in our laboratory also found glutamate excitotoxicity in HCA-induced neurologic injury [912]. We showed that glutamate receptor antagonists and inhibitors of neuronal nitric oxide synthase reduce neurologic injury after HCA. In the present in vivo study, we hypothesized that HCA results in increased extracellular glutamate, aspartate, and glycine, thereby activating glutamate receptors to trigger an influx of intracellular calcium. Calcium then activates nitric oxide synthase, producing nitric oxide, which results in cell death. We quantitatively examined changes in intracerebral levels of excitatory amino acids and nitric oxide in a canine model of hypothermic circulatory arrest.
| Material and methods |
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Cardiopulmonary bypass and hypothermic circulatory arrest
Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) circuit consisted of a Cobe membrane oxygenator (Cobe Laboratories, Inc, Lakewood, CO), a Sarns roller pump (Sarns Inc, Ann Arbor, MI), and a 40-µm inline arterial filter. The circuit was primed with 1.5 L of lactated Ringers solution with 50 mEq of sodium bicarbonate and 10 mEq of potassium chloride. After heparinization (300 U/kg intravenously), the right femoral artery was cannulated with a 12-F to 14-F arterial cannula and advanced into the descending aorta. Eighteen French to 20-F venous cannulas were advanced to the right atrium through the right external jugular and femoral veins.
Closed chest CPB was instituted; animals were surface cooled (ice bags around head and cooling blanket) and core (CPB) cooled to a tympanic membrane temperature of 18°C within 25 to 30 minutes. Mean arterial pressures were maintained at 50 to 60 mm Hg with pump flows of 80 to 100 mL/kg and reduced to 60 mL/kg when temperature was less than 32°C. Arterial blood gases were controlled using alpha-stat strategy. When the arterial pump was turned off, venous blood was drained by gravity into the reservoir. Circulatory arrest was maintained for 2 hours followed by reinstitution of CPB and rewarming. Sodium bicarbonate (50 mEq) and lasix (20 mg) were added to the reservoir. At normothermia (37°C), animals were weaned from CPB and decannulated.
Postoperatively, the dogs were ventilated and anesthetized with intravenous fentanyl (1020 µg/kg) and midazolam (1 mg) as needed. Intensive care unit monitoring was used. At 8 and 20 hours after HCA five dogs each were sacrificed fully anesthetized by exsanguination and perfusion with ice cold saline or 4% paraformaldehyde for histopathology.
Intracerebral microdialysis
Positioned in a Kopf stereotactic device, animals had the right side of skull exposed. Burr holes were drilled 3 mm caudal to the coronal suture and 8 mm from the midsagittal axis. Dura was opened and microdialysis probes (CMA 10/4; Acton, MA) were placed stereotactically to a depth of 20 mm in the corpus striatum. Confirmation of proper placement was determined at sacrifice. Tissue was allowed to stabilize for 180 minutes after probe placement. Warmed artificial cerebrospinal fluid (mmol/L concentration: NaCl, 131.8; NaHCO3, 24.6; CaCl2, 2.0; KCl, 3.0; MgCl2, 0.65; urea, 6.7; and dextrose, 3.7) was infused at 1 µL/minute. Effluent was collected serially every 30 minutes and immediately frozen at -70°C. Samples were then assayed by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection for extracellular amino acid concentrations, according to a method described previously [13, 14]. Citrulline concentration was used as a marker of nitric oxide production. All concentrations were not corrected for probe efficiency.
Histopathology
The right side of each brain was postfixed in 10% formalin, embedded in paraffin, and 8-µm sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin or cresyl violet. The left side of each brain was sliced into 1-cm sections and immediately frozen on dry ice for biochemical studies. Apoptosis was scored from 0 (no injury) to 100 (severe injury) in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus of paraffin-embedded tissue in a blinded fashion by a single neuropathologist. Apoptosis score was based on the percentage of apoptotic neurons present along the dentate gyrus. Normal untreated dogs have no apoptosis and have a 0 score.
Statistical analyses
All values are expressed in mean ± standard deviation of the population. Comparisons between groups were made by analysis of variance for repeated measures or Students t test where appropriate.
Animal care
All experimental protocols were preapproved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. Animals received humane care in compliance with the "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH Publication No. 85-23, revised 1985).
| Results |
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| Comment |
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Olney [15] first coined the term "excitotoxicity," which may constitute the final common pathway by which various neurologic insults result in neuronal cell degeneration and death. In excitotoxicity, neuronal injury is caused by overstimulation of excitatory amino acid receptors, including glutamate and aspartate [8]. Glutamate, the principal neurotransmitter of the brain, is responsible for many physiologic neurologic functions, including cognition, memory, movement, and sensation. Pathophysiologically, excessive extracellular excitatory amino acids, glutamate and aspartate, activate glutamate receptors. There are two types of glutamate receptors, metabotropic receptors coupled to G proteins and ionotropic receptors coupled directly to ion channels. Ionotropic receptors consist of three types: N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA),
-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate, and kainate receptors; stimulation of these receptors results in membrane depolarization. Glutamate and coagonist glycine are required to activate the NMDA receptor, triggering the influx of calcium intracellularly. Calcium influx into the cell triggers a cascade of cellular reactions, activating proteases, endonucleases, protein kinases, phospholipases, and nitric oxide synthase. Nitric oxide synthase produces nitric oxide, which in reaction with superoxide anion forms peroxynitrite. Peroxynitrite then results in lipid peroxidation, DNA degradation, and neuronal cell death.
In this study, we quantitatively measured intracerebral amino acids during HCA using a microdialysis technique. Microdialysis enables in vivo measurement of changes in extracellular concentrations of amino acids over time [16]. Microdialysis probes were placed in the striatum, a region where significant neuronal injury occurs after HCA. Infused artificial cerebrospinal fluid equilibrated with the brains extracellular space through the dialysis membrane and amino acid levels were then determined by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection.
We found that the excitatory amino acids, glutamate and aspartate, increased significantly during the ischemic period of arrest. Glutamate remained substantially elevated during reperfusion CPB and 2 to 8 hours after HCA, whereas aspartate returned to baseline and peaked again late 8 to 20 hours after HCA. Changes in glycine, the coagonist of glutamate on the NMDA receptor, paralleled changes in glutamate. The nonexcitatory amino acids, glutamine and arginine, did not increase over time.
Because nitric oxide synthase is the only enzyme in the brain that produces citrulline, and citrulline is produced in stoichiometrically equivalent amounts with nitric oxide, citrulline levels were used as a marker for nitric oxide production. Because nitric oxide has such a short half-life, its production was quantified most accurately by measuring citrulline production. Despite its short half-life, nitric oxides pathophysiologic significance is due to its ability to form other toxic metabolites, including peroxynitrite, nitrogen dioxide, and hydroxyl radical. Nitric oxide was produced during the same time periods as glutamate and glycine, increasing significantly during arrest, reperfusion CPB, and 2 to 8 hours after HCA.
Although separate experiments with prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass were not performed with microdialysis, the levels of all amino acids were compared at baseline, at the end of cooling CPB alone, during HCA, reperfusion CPB, and recovery. Of note, glutamate and citrulline levels increased during cooling CPB, suggesting that CPB without HCA might have neurotoxic effects; however, these changes were not statistically significant. Whether prolonged CPB alone results in increased intracerebral excitatory amino acids and neurotoxicity is not known. In the present study, no significant differences were found in any amino acid concentrations from baseline to the end of cooling CPB alone without HCA. We concluded that the changes in amino acid concentrations were the effect of HCA. Although hyperglycemia and reduced cardiac output during recovery might have damaging neurologic effects and might affect intracerebral amino acid levels, these conditions represented pathophysiologic derangements caused by HCA. Therefore, whether hyperglycemia or reduced cardiac output directly contributes to further increases in neurotoxic amino acids was not determined, but provided evidence of the damaging effects of HCA.
The increased levels of glutamate, aspartate, glycine, and nitric oxide did correspond with neurologic injury, because 2 hours of HCA produced apoptotic neuronal cell death 8 and 20 hours after HCA. Changes in amino acid concentrations were measured in the basal ganglia, an area easily and reproducibly accessible by microdialysis probes, where significant neuronal cell death occurred. To exclude the damaging effects of the microdialysis probe on histopathology, we examined an area separate from the probe tract, the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, where apoptosis occurred most significantly and was most easily quantifiable. Apoptosis also occurred in the neocortex, hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, and basal ganglia, but these areas were not as amenable to quantification. Normal dogs and dogs that underwent CPB alone (unpublished observations) had no apoptosis. In addition to apoptosis, neuronal necrosis occurred in the neocortex, hippocampus, basal ganglia, and cerebellum after HCA, although it was much less prominent [11, 12] at these time periods.
The decrease in apoptotic score at 20 hours demonstrated less ongoing apoptosis at the later time period as well as the loss of dead neurons that had been cleared. Histopathologically, the density of neurons in the dentate gyrus was significantly less at 20 hours as compared with 8 hours, with spaces where neurons had been present. Most apoptotic neurons appeared to have been cleared away, and in a previous study, we demonstrated that apoptosis essentially stopped by 72 hours [11, 12].
We found direct evidence that HCA causes increased intracerebral excitatory amino acids, extracellular glutamate and aspartate, along with coagonist glycine. We conclude that HCA causes glutamate excitotoxicity with subsequent nitric oxide production resulting in neurologic injury, beginning during arrest but continuing until 20 hours after arrest. Pharmacologic strategies to reduce glutamate excitotoxicity require intervention beyond the initial ischemic insult to provide effective cerebral protection.
| Acknowledgments |
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| References |
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