New determinants for casual peripheral mechanism of neurogenic lung edema in subarachnoid hemorrhage due to ischemic degeneration of vagal nerve, kidney and lung circuitry. Experimental study

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether there is a relationship between renal artery vasospasm related low glomerular density or degeneration and neurogenic lung edema (NLE) following subarachnoid hemorrhage. METHODS: This study was conducted on 26 rabbits. A control group was formed of five animals, a SHAM group of 5 to which saline and a study group (n=16) injected with homologous blood into the sylvian cisterna. Numbers of degenerated axons of renal branches of vagal nerves, atrophic glomerulus numbers and NLE scores were recorded. RESULTS: Important vagal degeneration, severe renal artery vasospasm, intrarenal hemorrhage and glomerular atrophy observed in high score NLE detected animals. The mean degenerated axon density of vagal nerves (n/mm(2)), atrophic glomerulus density (n/mm(3)) and NLE scores of control, SHAM and study groups were estimated as 2.40±1.82, 2.20±1.30, 1.80±1.10, 8.00±2.24, 8.80±2.39, 4.40±1.14 and 154.38±13.61, 34.69±2.68 and 12.19±1.97 consecutively. Degenerated vagal axon, atrophic glomerulus and NLE scores are higher in study group than other groups and the differences are statistically meaningful (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Vagal complex degeneration based glomerular atrophy have important roles on NLE following SAH which has not been extensively mentioned in the literature.