¹Department of Neurological Surgery, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

Correspondence: Dr GH Kim, Department of Neurosurgery, Columbia University, 710 West 168th Street, Room 431, New York, NY 10032, USA. E-mail: ghkim9@yahoo.com

²These authors contributed equally to this work.

Received 22 April 2008; Revised 25 July 2008; Accepted 28 July 2008; Published online 27 August 2008.

Abstract

Neuroprotective therapy targeting the complement cascade may reduce injury associated with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). We investigated the role of C3a-receptor antagonist (C3aRA) after ICH in mice. Autologous whole blood was infused into the right striatum of mice that were treated with C3aRA or vehicle, using both a pre- and postinjury dosing regimen. Hematoma volume, brain water content, and inflammatory cell profile were assessed at 72 h post-ICH. Neurologic dysfunction was assessed by evaluating both spatial memory and sensorimotor capacity. Animals pretreated with C3aRA showed significantly improved neurologic function, brain water content, and granulocyte infiltration relative to vehicle-treated animals when assessed at 72 h. There was no significant difference in hemorrhagic/nonhemorrhagic ratio of microglial activation among all groups. Hematoma volumes were also not significantly different between C3aRA-treated and vehicle-treated animals. Administration of C3aRA beginning 6 h postinjury afforded significant amelioration of neurologic dysfunction as well as a reduction in brain water content. Treatment with C3aRA improved neurologic outcome while reducing inflammatory cell infiltration and brain edema formation after experimental ICH in mice. Results of this study suggest that the C3a receptor may be a promising target for therapeutic intervention in hemorrhagic stroke.