Influence of acute exposure to heat on the blood-brain barrier permeability during acute hypertension

In mild hyperthermic rats with acute hypertension induced by intravenous injection of adrenaline, changes in blood-brain barrier permeability to macromolecules were investigated using Evans blue as indicator. Evans blue albumin extravasation was determined macroscopically, and a quantitative estimation with spectrophotometer using homogenized brain to release the dye was also performed to evaluate the macroscopic findings. Four groups of rats were studied: group I: control normothermia; group II: acute exposure to heat; group III: normothermia + acute hypertension; group IV: acute exposure to heat + acute hypertension. The rats were anesthetized with diethyl-ether. Body temperature was increased by elevating ambient temperature in the vented box covered with a 3 mm thick black copper plate. The colonie temperature was increased to 39 ± 0.5 °C. During adrenaline-induced acute hypertension the mean arterial blood pressure increased in both normothermic and mild hyperthermic animals. Mean values for Evans blue dye were found to be 0.20 ± 0.04 mg% whole brain in normothermic control rats and 0.30 ± 0.1 mg% in hyperthermic rats (p < 0.05). Mean values for Evans blue dye in the whole brain were found to be 0.63 ± 0.2 mg% in the normothermic rats and 0.40 ± 0.2 mg% in the mild hyperthermic rats during adrenaline-induced hypertension (p < 0.05). Our results show that the extravasation of Evans blue albumin was less pronounced in the brains of mild hyperthermic rats compared to normothermic rats after adrenaline-induced acute hypertension.