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Cerebral edema in developing brain: I. Normal water and cation content in developing rat brain and postmortem changes

1971; Elsevier BV; Volume: 32; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0014-4886(71)90009-4

1090-2430

S.W. De Souza, John Dobbing,

Renal function and acid-base balance

In preparation for an experimental study of cerebral edema in immature brain, the normal development of rat brain has been studied with respect to brain weight, water, sodium, and potassium content from 16 days of gestation at frequent intervals until adult life. The time course of postmortem alteration of these values has been followed until 96 hr after death in the hope that brains from human autopsy may be assessed for the presence of edema. It has been noted that considerable alterations of composition occur at those stages of brain development corresponding to the perinatal period in humans. The significance of these, and of the differences between immature and mature brain, for the assessment of cerebral edema in babies is discussed.