Role of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and matrix metalloproteinase-9 in blood-brain barrier disruption after peripheral thermal injury in rats.

Object: A relationship has been found between peripheral thermal injury and cerebral complications leading to injury and death. In the present study, the authors examined whether tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) play a causative role in blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption after peripheral thermal injury.

Methods: Thirty-two male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to thermal injury.

Peripheral thermal injury causes blood-brain barrier dysfunction and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression in rat.

Mortality after serious systemic thermal injury may be linked to significant increases in cerebral vascular permeability and edema due to blood-brain barrier (BBB) breakdown. This BBB disruption is thought to be mediated by a family of proteolytic enzymes known as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). The gelatinases, MMP-2 and MMP-9, digest the endothelial basal lamina of the BBB, which is essential for maintaining BBB integrity.