Beneficial effect of prolonged administration of albumin on ischemic cerebral edema and infarction after occlusion of middle cerebral artery in rats.

This study compared the therapeutical effect of the prolonged administration of albumin, 2 g/kg body weight per day, with that of saline or dextran, 0.8 g/kg body weight per day, on cerebral ischemia, using an occlusion of the middle cerebral artery in the rat. Brain water, sodium, and potassium contents were measured 72 hours after middle cerebral artery occlusion. The volume of infarction was represented as volume index, which is a total of the infarction area measured in the five brain slices at 168 hours after middle cerebral artery occlusion. The postischemic administration of albumin at the dose tested elucidated an antiedema effect and reduced the infarction size after regional ischemia in rats. These results strongly support the idea that hemodilution therapy with colloids such as albumin has wide usage as a treatment of patients with ischemic cerebral stroke.