A novel inhibitor of inflammatory cytokine production (CNI-1493) reduces rodent post-hemorrhagic vasospasm.

Introduction: Cerebral vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a devastating complication, yet despite multiple lines of investigation an effective treatment remains lacking. Cytokine-mediated inflammation has been implicated as a causative factor in the development of posthemorrhagic vasospasm. In previous experiments using the rat femoral artery model of vasospasm, we demonstrated that elevated levels of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-6 are present after hemorrhage and that a polyclonal antibody against IL-6 is capable of attenuating experimental vasospasm.