Effect Of Dexamethasone On Somatosensory Evoked Potential And INOS,c-Fos Protein In Septic Rats

Objective: To explore the effect of dexamethasone on somatosensory evoked potential and iNOS, c-Fos protein in septic rats. Methods: 88 Wistar rats were randomly divided into control group, experimental group and DXM treatment group. The sepsis model was made by cecal ligation puncture (CLP). The experimental group and DXM treatment group were divided into 5 groups of 1,2,4,6,10 hrs after CLP respectively. Cerebral evoked potential (CEP) was measured. The expression ofiNOS, c-Fos protein in cerebral cortex , hippocampus and hypothalamus were examined by the immunohistochemical technique. Results: The latencies of P1 wave was decreased significantly in DXM group of 10 hrs as compared with those in the CLP group of 10h (P<0.05), and the amplitudes of P1 wave were increased significantly (P<0.05). The iNOS protein expression was increased 4 hrs, 6 hrs, 10 hrs after CLP in cerebral cortex and hypothalamus, was remarkably decreased between 4 hrs, 6 hrs,10hrs after DXM administration(P<0.05). The expression of 6 hrs and 10 hrs group after CLP was higher compared with that of control group in hippocampus (P<0.05). The c-Fos protein expression was increased 1 hrs after CLP in cerebral cortex and hippocampus, while the expression was increased 1 hrs and 2 hrs after DXM injection in hypothalamus. The c-Fos protein expression was remarkably increased between 1 and 2 hrs after DXM administration in different encephalic regions (P<0.05). Conclusions: Dexamethasone may improve the change...