ABSTRACT
This article describes the immunological events and investigates important mediators of the inflammatory immune response after experimental cranial trauma combined with type I diabetes. It was shown that the rats with induced diabetes and traumatic brain injury suffered more profound damage to the immune system that was not restored back to the basal level within 14 days. Proinflammatory cytokine concentrations increased, while anti-inflammatory cytokine concentrations decreased by day 14, increasing risk for systemic inflammatory response syndrome and multi-organ failure. Factors responsible for humoral immunity and cell-mediated immunity were consistently lower by day 14, which might make diabetic rats more susceptible to infections compared to rats with brain injury alone.
