Dexamethasone transiently attenuates up-regulation of endostatin/collagen XVIII following traumatic brain injury.

Endostatin/collagen XVIII is a specific inhibitor of endothelial proliferation and migration in vitro. It has also been shown to have anti-angiogenic activity and tumor growth inhibitory activity in vivo and in vitro. Here we studied expression of endostatin/collagen XVIII in a rat traumatic brain injury (TBI) model, focusing on the early phase. A significant up-regulation of endostatin/collagen XVIII in TBI began as early as 24 h post-TBI. Double-staining experiment revealed that the major resource of endostatin/collagen XVIII(+) cells in our TBI rat model was a subpopulation of reactivated microglia/macrophages. Our data further showed that dexamethasone attenuated up-regulation of endostatin/collagen XVIII expression at days 1 and 2, but not at day 4, post-TBI, indicating that dexamethasone might possess an early and transient influence to the angiogenesis following TBI.