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Biomedical subjects

C Sprick

Publications and source records attributed to C Sprick.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Subcutaneous injection of carbachol enhances brain graft-induced recovery of memory-function by circumventing the blood-brain barrier.

After bilateral neurotoxic hippocampectomy adult rats received bilateral fetal suspension grafts at the lesion sites. Functional efficacy of fetal grafted tissue was substantially improved by subcutaneous administration of carbachol at a dose of 0.01 mg/kg s.c. The drug caused an almost complete restitution of performance in grafted animals in a Morris water-maze test. The progress of behavioral recovery was studied over 3 months postoperatively. Grafts of fetal hippocampal neurons alone improved lesion-induced spatial learning deficits to a limited degree. These results suggest that peripheral administration of carbachol may be of use in the treatment of central lesions associated with cognitive impairments, allowing or enhancing the development of graft-induced amelioration of behavioral deficits. The data also support the view that grafts of embryonic neural tissue may produce a local opening of the blood-brain barrier allowing drugs which normally act only peripherally to exert central effects. These central effects are probably limited to the graft site because the rest of the brain has a blood-brain barrier which is still intact.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Resting energy expenditure in patients with isolated head injuries and spontaneous intracranial haemorrhages.

Indirect calorimetry was performed during the first seven days in 39 neurosurgical patients with isolated head injuries (N = 20) and with spontaneous intracranial haemorrhage (N = 19). All patients were artificially ventilated and received total parenteral nutrition during the whole study period. In the trauma group resting energy expenditure (REE) varied from 473-2172 kcal/m(2)/day and in patients with spontaneous haematomas from 552-1591 kcal/m/day. These were 56-265% (trauma) and 61-192% (spontaneous haemorrhages) of predicted basal metabolic rates (BMR). Patients with head injuries showed higher REE values than patients with spontaneous haemorrhage, which was significant (p < 0.001) for the differences between the two study groups and for coma grade II patients. Deeper coma resulted in lower energy expenditure in patients with head injuries but the decrease was significant only from coma grade I to II. The authors conclude that REE rarely exceeds 30% of predicted BMR in patients with spontaneous haemorrhage and 50% in trauma patients. However, the effect of coma on REE should be taken into account when devising nutritional support in this group of patients.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1989

Multiple suicidal gunshots to the head.

We report two cases of suicide by multiple gunshots to the head. The first victim (of two shots) fired the first shot, which was observed, into his mouth, leading to damage to the left optic nerve and frontal lobe. The man still was able to drive his car home, where he shot himself in his right temple. He died 2 days later. The second victim (of three shots) was a 58-year-old man who was found dead on his bed. Reconstruction of the case disclosed that the first shot had passed through his tongue and slightly damaged the second cervical vertebral body. He then shot himself in his right temple, leading to damage of the temporal lobe. Finally, he shot himself in his left temple, resulting in destruction of the pons. In the first case, an amateurishly modified 8-mm blank revolver firing 6.35-mm- (.25)-caliber ammunition was used; in the second case, a rifle firing 5.6-mm (.22)-caliber ammunition with a reduced charge was used. In both cases, low-energy transfer to brain tissue by the initial bullets was due to low bullet energy or due to the bullets' missing the brain or vital centers.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Measurements of brain-stem auditory evoked potentials in infancy, childhood, and adolescence.

Brain-stem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) were measured in 38 patients between 3 months and 18 years of age. In patients with blunt head injuries (N = 28; 73.7%) no significant correlation between BAEP changes and final outcome could be established until day 36 with the exception of wave III changes in 3 children. Because various BAEP abnormalities occurred in all outcome groups and the nature of the changes was transient, we conclude that within this age group there must be a higher resistance to various lesions until irreversible impairment of brain-stem function results. In spite of this result, continuous BAEP recording in this age group appears useful, since this noninvasive investigation represents an objective assessment of topical brain-stem function.

Adolescent↗