Hippocampal damage following repeated brief hypotensive episodes in the rat.

We examined the brain damage following repeated hypotensive episodes in the rat. Severe hypotension was induced by withdrawal of arterial blood. The MABP was maintained at about 25 mm Hg with isoelectric EEG and the shed blood was retransfused. After 1 week of recovery, histopathological changes were examined. No brain damage was observed after 1 min of isoelectric EEG. Mild neuronal damage to the hippocampal CA1 subfield was seen in some animals after two episodes of 1-min isoelectric EEG at a 1-h interval. Significant and consistent neuronal loss in the hippocampal CA1 subfield was observed after three episodes of 1-min isoelectric EEG. Scattered neuronal damage in the thalamus was additionally seen in some animals. The present study indicates that repeated brief hypotensive episodes produce brain damage depending on the number of episodes, even though no brain damage results when induced as a single insult. This animal model may reproduce hemodynamic transient ischemic attacks in humans.