ISSN : 1301-5680
e-ISSN : 2149-8156
Turkish Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery     
Protective effects of erythropoietin and methylprednisolone on lung damage after experimental head injury
Erkan Yıldırım1, Kanat Özışık1, Pınar Özışık2, Mustafa Emir3, Engin Yıldırım4, Kamer Kılınç5
1Department of Thoracic Surgery, Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital, Ankara
2Departments of Neurosurgery Medicine Faculty of Hacettepe University, Ankara
3Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Yüksek İhtisas Hospital, Ankara
4Department of Pharmacology, Medicine Faculty of Osmangazi University, Eskişehir
5Departments of Biochemistry, Medicine Faculty of Hacettepe University, Ankara
Background: The effects of erythropoietin and methylprednisolone on pulmonary lipid peroxidation and myeloperoxidase activity in lung injury following experimental head trauma in rats.

Study design: Seventy-six female Wistar-Albino rats, weighing 180-220 gr, were evenly allocated into ten groups. A weight-drop method was used to achieve head trauma. Samples were obtained from the left lung 24-h after the injury. Lung tissue-associated myeloperoxidase activity and lipid peroxidation levels were measured. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to test the differences in the lipid peroxidation levels and myeloperoxidase activities between groups. Then, post-hoc comparison was performed.

Results: Firstly, head trauma substantially elevated lipid peroxidation and myeloperoxidase activity in lung tissue in the severe trauma group (p<0.05). Secondly, methylprednisolone significantly decreased lipid peroxidation in trauma- moderate group (p<0.05), whereas in trauma-severe group erythropoietin was superior (p<0.05). Thirdly, erythropoietin was more effective than methylprednisolone in decreasing myeloperoxidase activity in both trauma groups (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Erythropoietin efficiently protected lung tissue against polymorphonuclear leukocytes infiltration and oxidative damage. Further studies are warranted to better clarify the management of lung injury in brain injury/death model to transfer sufficient data to clinical studies providing suitable donor lungs and better survival rates in recipients.

Keywords : Brain injury/complications/physiopathology; lipid peroxidation; lung/metabolism/pathology; rats; respiratory distress syndrome, adult/etiology /pathology
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