Ultrastructural changes of rat cardiac myocytes in a time-dependent manner after traumatic brain injury.

We suggest an ultrastructural scoring system to evaluate the degree of damage in a time-dependent manner in cardiac myocytes after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Forty Wistar-Albino female rats weighing 170-200 g were randomly allocated into five groups. Group 1 was the control and Group 2 was the sham-operated group. Group 3, Group 4 and Group 5 were trauma groups. Weight-drop technique was used for achieving TBI. Lipid peroxidation was estimated by thiobarbituric acid test. An electron microscopic scoring model was used to grade the subcellular changes. Results of heart injury score (HIS) showed that the 24-h trauma group had statistically significant levels in nuclear damage compared with the other groups (p < 0.05). Sarcoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria scores of all trauma groups were significantly different from the control and sham groups (p < 0.05). The results showed that lipid per oxidation levels were statistically significant different between the control and all trauma groups (p < 0.05). The electron microscopic scoring model worked well in depicting the traumatic changes, which were supported by lipid peroxidation levels. Traumatic brain injury produced obvious gradual damage on the ultrastructure of the cardiac myocytes and this damage was more significant in the 24-h trauma group.