Effect of steroid therapy on cerebral cold injury edema in the rat: the optimal dosage.

Effects of various doses of betamethasone on cold induced brain edema were studied in rats by RISA extravasation counting technique. Betamethasone was given in a single injection two hours prior to production of the lesion. Only limited doses were effective in preventing edema. There seem to be no beneficial effects in doses over 1 mg up to 100 mg/kg of body weight, the optimal dosage being estimated to be around 0.5 mg/kg. This result might indicate that the usual loading dose of 10 mg/kg in man is rather small for preventing brain edema most efficiently.