Neuroprotective effect of helium after neonatal hypoxic ischemia: a narrative review.

Neonatal hypoxic ischemia is one of the leading causes of permanent morbidity and mortality in newborns, which is caused by difficulty in supplying blood and oxygen to brain tissue and is often associated with epilepsy, cerebral palsy, death, short-term or long-term neurological and cognitive impairment. In recent years, the clinical therapeutic effects of noble gases have been gradually discovered and recognized. Numerous studies have shown that noble gases have unique neuroprotective effects to restore damaged nerve and relieve symptoms in patients. Although research on the neuroprotective mechanisms of xenon and argon has yielded a lot of results, studies on helium have stalled. Helium is a colorless, odorless, monoatomic inert gas. The helium has no hemodynamic or neurocognitive side effects and can be used as an ideal pre-adaptor for future clinical applications. In recent years, studies have shown that heliox (a mixture of helium and oxygen) pretreatment can protect the heart, brain, liver and intestine from damage in several animal models, where a variety of signaling pathways have been proved to be involved. There are numerous studies on it even though the mechanism of helium for protecting newborns has not been fully elucidated. It is urgent to find an effective treatment due to the high death rate and disability rate of neonatal hypoxic ischemia. It is believed that helium will be approved safely and effectively for clinical use in the near future.

Effects of rehabilitation training on behavior and sensory evoked potential of rats with acute cerebral infarction / 中国康复理论与实践

@#ObjectiveTo observe effects of rehabilitation training on behavior and sensory evoked potential of rats with acute cerebral infarction.Methods30 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into sham operation groups (group A), model group (group B), and rehabilitation group (group C). Animal model was made by blocking the middle cerebral artery (MCA). For each group, the Bederson Neural Function was scored and balancing wood, rotating bar, and net screen were tested at the 24 hours, 3rd day and 7th day after operation respectively. The sensory evoked potential (SEP) latency of each group was also tested right after operation and on the 7th day after operation.ResultsComparing with group A, Bederson Neural Function scores of groups B and C indicated significant differences at each time (P<0.01). The ability of grasping, walking and coordinating of all groups handicapped 24 hours after operation, however, with time continuing, every function of group A restored and that of group B or C improved partly, but showed significant difference compared with group A (P<0.01). On the 3rd day after operation, balancing wood test of group C was better than that of group B (P<0.05), on the 7th day after operation, except Bederson Neural Function scores, there were significant difference between groups C and B (P<0.01 or P<0.05). Right after operation, compared with group A, the SEP latency of group B and C showed significant difference (P<0.01), on the 7th day after operation, the SEP latency of group C improved significantly compared with itself right after operation (P<0.01).ConclusionThe rehabilitation training can improve the MCAO rats' ability of equilibrating,grasping and walking and adjust the abnormal latency of SEP after MCAO, and prevent the nerve cells from damage caused by ischemic trauma.