Matricellular protein: a new player in cerebral vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage

• Published in: Acta neurochirurgica. Supplement Vol. 115; p. 213
• Main Authors: Suzuki, Hidenori, Shiba, Masato, Fujimoto, Masashi, Kawamura, Kengo, Nanpei, Mai, Tekeuchi, Eriko, Matsushima, Satoshi, Kanamaru, Kenji, Imanaka-Yoshida, Kyoko, Yoshida, Toshimichi, Taki, Waro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Austria 01-01-2013
• Subjects: Animals; Basilar Artery - drug effects; Basilar Artery - metabolism; Basilar Artery - pathology; Carbon; Cerebral Angiography; Cisterna Magna - drug effects; Cisterna Magna - physiopathology; Disease Models, Animal; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Gene Expression Regulation - drug effects; Male; Neurologic Examination; Osteopontin - metabolism; Osteopontin - pharmacology; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Statistics, Nonparametric; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage - complications; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage - etiology; Tenascin - metabolism; Tenascin - pharmacology; Time Factors; Vasoconstriction - drug effects; Vasospasm, Intracranial - etiology; Vasospasm, Intracranial - pathology
• ISSN: 0065-1419
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-7091-1192-5_39

Matricellular protein (MCP) is a class of nonstructural and secreted extracellular matrix proteins that exert diverse functions, but its role in vascular smooth muscle contraction has not been investigated.
First, rat subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) models were produced by endovascular perforation and examined for tenascin-C (TNC) and osteopontin (OPN) induction (representatives of MCPs) in vasospastic cerebral arteries using immunostaining. Second, recombinant TNC (r-TNC), recombinant OPN (r-OPN), or both were injected into a cisterna magna in healthy rats, and the effects on the diameter of basilar arteries were determined using India ink angiography.
In SAH rats, TNC immunoreactivity was markedly induced in the smooth muscle cell layers of spastic cerebral arteries on day 1 but not in control animals. The TNC immunoreactivity decreased on day 3 as vasospasm improved: OPN immunoreactivity, on the other hand, was more induced in the arterial wall on day 3. r-TNC injections caused prolonged contractions of rat basilar arteries, which were reversed by r-OPN, although r-OPN itself had no effect on the vessel diameter.
MCPs, including TNC and OPN, may contribute to the pathophysiology of cerebral vasospasm and provide a novel therapeutic approach against it.