Lateral fluid-percussion injury leads to pituitary atrophy in rats

Sci Rep. 2019 Aug 14;9(1):11819. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-48404-w.

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes neuroendocrine dysregulation in up to 40% of humans, which is related to impaired function of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal axis and contributes to TBI-related co-morbidities. Our objective was to investigate whether hypophyseal atrophy can be recapitulated in rat lateral fluid-percussion injury model of human TBI. High-resolution structural magnetic resonance images (MRI) were acquired from rats at 2 days and 5 months post-TBI. To measure the lobe-specific volumetric changes, manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI) scans were acquired from rats at 8 months post-TBI, which also underwent the pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) seizure susceptibility and Morris water-maze spatial memory tests. MRI revealed no differences in the total hypophyseal volume between TBI and controls at 2 days, 5 months or 8 months post-TBI. Surprisingly, MEMRI at 8 months post-TBI indicated a 17% reduction in neurohypophyseal volume in the TBI group as compared to controls (1.04 ± 0.05 mm3 vs 1.25 ± 0.05 mm3, p < 0.05). Moreover, neurohypophyseal volume inversely correlated with the number of PTZ-induced epileptiform discharges and the mean latency to platform in the Morris water-maze test. Our data demonstrate that TBI leads to neurohypophyseal lobe-specific atrophy and may serve as a prognostic biomarker for post-TBI outcome.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Brain Injuries, Traumatic / diagnostic imaging
  • Brain Injuries, Traumatic / pathology*
  • Brain Injuries, Traumatic / physiopathology
  • Convulsants / toxicity
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Electroencephalography
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Maze Learning
  • Pentylenetetrazole / toxicity
  • Pituitary Gland / diagnostic imaging
  • Pituitary Gland / drug effects
  • Pituitary Gland / pathology*
  • Prognosis
  • Rats
  • Retrospective Studies

Substances

  • Convulsants
  • Pentylenetetrazole