Etanercept attenuates traumatic brain injury in rats by reducing brain TNF- α contents and by stimulating newly formed neurogenesis.

It remains unclear whether etanercept penetrates directly into the contused brain and improves the outcomes of TBI by attenuating brain contents of TNF- α and/or stimulating newly formed neurogenesis. Rats that sustained TBI are immediately treated with etanercept. Acute neurological and motor injury is assessed in all rats the day prior to and 7 days after surgery. The numbers of the colocalizations of 5-bromodeoxyuridine and doublecortin specific markers in the contused brain injury that occurred during TBI were counted by immunofluorescence staining. Enzyme immunoassay for quantitative determination of TNF-α or etanercept in brain tissues is also performed. Seven days after systemic administration of etanercept, levels of etanercept can be detected in the contused brain tissues. In addition, neurological and motor deficits, cerebral contusion, and increased brain TNF-α contents caused by TBI can be attenuated by etanercept therapy. Furthermore, the increased numbers of the colocalizations of 5-bromodeoxyuridine and doublecortin specific markers in the contused brain tissues caused by TBI can be potentiated by etanercept therapy. These findings indicate that systemically administered etanercept may penetrate directly into the contused brain tissues and may improve outcomes of TBI by reducing brain contents of TNF- α and by stimulating newly formed neurogenesis.

Etanercept attenuates traumatic brain injury in rats by reducing early microglial expression of tumor necrosis factor-α.

BACKGROUND: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) is elevated early in injured brain after traumatic brain injury (TBI), in humans and in animals. Etanercept (a TNF-α antagonist with anti-inflammatory effects) attenuates TBI in rats by reducing both microglial and astrocytic activation and increased serum levels of TNF-α. However, it is not known whether etanercept improves outcomes of TBI by attenuating microglia-associated, astrocytes-associated, and/or neurons-associated TNF-α expression in ischemic brain. A well clinically relevant rat model, where a lateral fluid percussion is combined with systemic administration of etanercept immediately after TBI, was used. The neurological severity score and motor function was measured on all rats preinjury and on day 3 after etanercept administration. At the same time, the neuronal and glial production of TNF-α was measured by Immunofluorescence staining. In addition, TNFα contents of ischemic cerebral homogenates was measured using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. RESULTS: In addition to inducing brain ischemia as well as neurological and motor deficits, TBI caused significantly higher numbers of microglia-TNF-α double positive cells, but not neurons-TNF-α or astrocytes-TNF-α double positive cells in the injured brain areas than did the sham operated controls, when evaluated 3 days after TBI. The TBI-induced cerebral ischemia, neurological motor deficits, and increased numbers of microglia-TNF-α double positive cells and increased TNF-α levels in the injured brain were all significantly attenuated by etanercept therapy. CONCLUSION: This finding indicates that early microglia overproduction of TNF-α in the injured brain region after TBI contributes to cerebral ischemia and neurological motor deficits, which can be attenuated by etanercept therapy. Studies in this model could provide insight into the mechanisms underlying neurological motor disturbance in brain-injured patients.

Therapeutic evaluation of etanercept in a model of traumatic brain injury.

Antagonism of tumor necrosis factor-alpha with etanercept has proved to be effective in the treatment of spinal cord injury and centrally endotoxin-induced brain injury. However, etanercept may offer promise as therapy for traumatic brain injury (TBI). In this study, anesthetized rats, immediately after the onset of TBI, were divided into two major groups and given the vehicle solution (1 mL/kg of body weight) or etanercept (5 mg/kg of body weight) intraperitoneally once per 12 h for consecutive 3 days. Etanercept caused attenuation of TBI-induced cerebral ischemia (e.g., increased cellular levels of glutamate and lactate-to-pyruvate ratio), damage (e.g., increased cellular levels of glycerol) and contusion and motor and cognitive function deficits. TBI-induced neuronal apoptosis (e.g., increased numbers of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase αUTP nick-end labeling and neuronal-specific nuclear protein double-positive cells), glial apoptosis (e.g., increased numbers of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase αUTP nick-end labeling and glial fibrillary acidic protein double-positive cells), astrocytic (e.g., increased numbers of glial fibrillary acidic protein positive cells) and microglial (e.g., increased numbers of ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1-positive cells) activation and activated inflammation (e.g., increased levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1ß and interleukin-6) were all significantly reduced by etanercept treatment. These findings suggest that etanercept may improve outcomes of TBI by penetrating into the cerebrospinal fluid in rats.