Differential effects of endothelin receptor A and B antagonism on behavioral outcome following traumatic brain injury.

Objectives: Previously we have reported that endothelin receptor A and B antagonists elicit differential effects on cerebral blood flow and cellular damage. In summary, endothelin receptor A antagonists restore microcirculation and diminish cellular damage after injury, while endothelin receptor B antagonists had no effect on either parameter. However, what is not known is the effect of either antagonist on behavioral outcome.

Endothelin receptors A and B are expressed in distinct cellular compartments of rat hippocampus following global ischemia: an immunocytochemical study.

Objectives: The syntheses of endothelin receptors A and B were previously shown to be upregulated in rat dorsal hippocampus after traumatic brain injury. Here we characterize endothelin receptor A and endothelin receptor B cellular distribution in hippocampus after permanent global brain ischemia and their possible association to nerve cell injury.

Methods: Twenty-minute global ischemia was induced using the Pulsinelli's four-vessel occlusion in conjunction with systemic hypovolemia in male rats.