Central nervous system-targeted complement inhibition mediates neuroprotection after closed head injury in transgenic mice.

The role of intracerebral complement activation after traumatic brain injury remains unclear. In this study, the authors demonstrate that transgenic mice with astrocyte-targeted expression of the soluble complement inhibitor sCrry have a significantly reduced neurologic impairment and improved blood-brain barrier function after closed head injury compared with wild-type C57BL/6 littermates. This work further implicates the complement system as a participant in secondary progression of brain damage after head trauma and provides a strong rationale for future studies of posttraumatic pharmacologic complement inhibition.