LAUSR

OBJECTIVE Cerebral vasospasm (CV) occuring after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a serious cause of morbidity.CV-related studies aim to prevent complications after SAH. Nitric oxide (NO) has effect on brain blood flow and local vascular hemodynamics. L-arginine is used in the synthesis of NO and therefore we investigated the efficacy of L-arginine treatment by using femoral artery vasospasm model. MATERIAL AND METHODS Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups as vasospasm, vasospasm+ L-arginine and control groups. We preferred "Rat Femoral Artery Vasospasm Model" described by Okada et al. in our study. Rats in the vasospasm+ L-arginine group received 300 mg/kg L-arginine for 7 days. End of the study all samples of rat femoral arteries were dissected and examined microscopically for histopathologically analysis. Statistical analysis were performed by using Kruskal Wallis and Mann Whitney U tests and p <0.05 value was considered statistically significant. RESULTS L-arginine treatment reduced the morphometric changes as irregularity of the elastic lamina, disruption of the endothelial cells, vacuolization and hemorrhages that caused by vasospasm. When the wall thickness and lumen diameter measurements were evaluated statistically; significant improvement was observed in vasospasm+ L-arginine group compared to the vasospasm group (p <0.01). CONCLUSION In our study the use of L-arginine, as a NO substrate, improved the experimental vasospasm. Therefore, we think that L-arginine therapy can be used in the treatment of cerebral vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage.