The antioxidant effect of N-acethylcysteine on experimental contusion in rats.

N-acethylcysteine (NAC) is known to have direct and indirect antioxidant abilities. We investigated the potential protective effect of NAC on ICP, brain edema and contusion volume after Controlled Cortical Impact (CCI) injury. A moderate CCI injury was induced on the left hemisphere in 48 Sprague Dawley rats. The animals were treated with intraperitoneal injection of NAC (163 mg/kg/KG) or physiological saline. Measurements of intracranial pressure (ICP) were performed and brains were removed at 24 hours. Gravimetric analysis of post-traumatic edema and morphometric measurements (TTC staining) of contusion volume were carried out in 24 animals, respectively. ICP measurements increased significantly over time with no significant differences between both groups. The relative difference in water content in NAC treated animals (1.45 ± 0.1%) did not differ significantly versus placebo (1.47 ± 0.2%). The contusion volume was diminished by 19% in the NAC group (53.52 ± 5.3 mm3) versus placebo (66.28 ± 4.7 mm3) without showing statistical significance. The antioxidant properties of NAC did not affect intracranial pressure or posttraumatic brain edema formation, although the moderate reduction of contusion volume might reveal beneficial effects on focal contusion.