The novel free radical scavenger, edaravone, increases neural stem cell number around the area of damage following rat traumatic brain injury.

Edaravone is a novel free radical scavenger that is clinically employed in patients with acute cerebral infarction, but has not previously been used to treat traumatic brain injury (TBI). In this study, we investigated the effect of edaravone administration on rat TBI. In particular, we used immunohistochemistry to monitor neural stem cell (NSC) proliferation around the area damaged by TBI. Two separate groups of rats were administered saline or edaravone (3 mg/kg) after TBI and then killed chronologically. We also used ex vivo techniques to isolate NSCs from the damaged region and observed nestin-positive cells at 1, 3, and 7 days following TBI in both saline- and edaravone-treated groups. At 3 days following TBI in both groups, there were many large cells that morphologically resembled astrocytes. At 1 and 7 days following TBI in the saline group, there were a few small nestin-positive cells. However, in the edaravone group, there were many large nestin-positive cells at 7 days following TBI. At 3 and 7 days following TBI, the number of nestin-positive cells in the edaravone group increased significantly compared with the saline group. There were many single-stranded DNA-, 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine-, and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal-positive cells in the saline group following TBI, but only a few such cells in the edaravone group following TBI. Furthermore, almost all ssDNA-positive cells in the saline group co-localized with Hu, nestin, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) staining, but not in the edaravone group. In the ex vivo study, spheres could only be isolated from injured brain tissue in the saline group at 3 days following TBI. However, in the edaravone group, spheres could be isolated from injured brain tissue at both 3 and 7 days following TBI. The number of spheres isolated from injured brain tissue in the edaravone group showed a significant increase compared with the saline group. The spheres isolated from both saline and edaravone groups were immunopositive for nestin, but not Tuj1 or vimentin. Moreover, the spheres differentiated into Tuj1-, GFAP-, and O4-positive cells after 4 days in culture without bFGF. This result indicated that the spheres were neurospheres composed of NSCs that could differentiate into neurons and glia. Edaravone administration inhibited production of free radicals known to induce neuronal degeneration and cell death after brain injury, and protected nestin-positive cells, including NSCs, with the potential to differentiate into neurons and glia around the area damaged by TBI.