Ventricle shunting in young H-Tx rats with inherited congenital hydrocephalus: a quantitative histological study of cortical grey matter.

Shunt surgery is the usual treatment for infantile hydrocephalus, but its precise effects on ventricles and cortex are not well understood. Infant H-Tx rats with inherited hydrocephalus, which have progressive enlargement of the lateral ventricles and thinned cerebral cortex, have been used to study the effect of ventriculosubcutaneous shunts by quantitative light microscopy. Two groups of rats received shunts at mean ages of 7 and 13 days after birth. The brains were processed for wax histology at either 14 or 21 days (n = 3 per group) together with age-matched control and unshunted (hydrocephalic) rats. Ventricle areas were measured and the volume calculated and the cortical layers in five cortical regions were measured. Shunting prevented further expansion of ventricles which were already enlarged at the time of operation, and resulted in volumes which were intermediate between those in control and unshunted rats. Cortical thinning was partially reversed by shunting and the thickness and number of discernible cortical laminae was improved. It is concluded that shunting was largely successful at preventing the pathological effects of hydrocephalus.