Alteration of Basilar Artery Rho-Kinase and Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase Protein Expression in a Rat Model of Cerebral Vasospasm following Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Table 1

Behavioral changes induced by experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage in the rat.

(a) Scoring system used for motor function assessment

Motor function	Behavior	Score
Ambulation	Normal (symmetric and coordinated)	0
	Toes flat under the body while walking with ataxia	1
	Knuckle-walking	2
	Movement in lower extremities but unable to knuckle walk	3
	No movement, dragging lower extremities	4
Placing/stepping reflex	Normal (coordinated lifting and placing response)	0
	Weak response	1
	No stepping	2

Ambulation was assessed by walking with lower extremities, while placing/stepping reflex was evaluated by dragging the dorsum of the hind paw over the edge of a surface [10].

(b) Effect of CGS 26303 on behavioral changes induced by experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage in the rat

Group	Ambulation	Placing/stepping reflex	Motor deficit index (MDI)	Paraplegia rate
Normal (no SAH)	0*	0*	0*	0*
SAH	1.27±0.18	1.50±0.13	2.36±0.20	67
SAH + vehicle	1.20±0.13	1.47±0.13	2.27±0.18	58
SAH + CGS 26303 (P)	0.75±0.13^∗	0.71±0.17^∗	1.33±0.18^∗	30*
SAH + CGS 26303 (R)	0.85±0.15^∗	0.83±0.16^∗	1.40±0.15^∗	23*

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) was induced in rats by injecting autologous blood into the cisterna magna. CGS 26303 was administered intravenously at a dose of 10 mg/kg at 1 (prevention protocol, P) or 24 (reversal protocol, R) hr after SAH. The motor function was assessed using the scoring system shown in Table 1(a) and was performed at 48 hr after SAH prior to sacrifice. Six animals were used in each group, and motor function assessment was performed five times for each animal. MDI is the sum of scores from ambulation and placing/stepping reflex. The paraplegia rate is defined as the percentage of rats with MDI≥3 in each group (𝑛=6). ^∗𝑃<0.05 versus the SAH group.