Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis: developing an experimental model.

To develop a simple experimental model for cerebral venous sinus thrombosis in rat, 24 male Sprague-Dawley rats (14 experimental and 10 controls) were studied. After anesthesia, a 1.5 mm x 10 mm cranial window was made to expose superior sagittal sinus (SSS). A filter paper strip soaked in 40% ferric chloride topically applied for 5 min to induce SSS thrombosis in experimental group. Five of these rats underwent autopsy at 24 h after rota rod study, other 9 rats underwent MRI after 24 h followed by autopsy at 36-48 h. On MRI, T2 hyperintense lesions were seen in all 9 rats of study group but none in controls. On autopsy, TTC staining revealed changes in 7 out of 14 experimental rats but in none of the controls. The rota rod study results revealed an insignificant difference in the experimental and control group. There was no spontaneous death in experimental or control group during the study. The present experimental model is simple, easy to carry out and results in TTC staining changes in 50% and T2 hyperintensity on MRI in all which could be due to SSS thrombosis.