Increase in extracellular glutamate caused by reduced cerebral perfusion pressure and seizures after human traumatic brain injury: a microdialysis study

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Abstract
Object. To determine the extent and duration of change in extracellular glutamate levels after human traumatic brain injury (TBI), 17 severely brain injured adults underwent implantation of a cerebral microdialysis probe and systematic sampling was conducted for 1 to 9 days postinjury. Methods. A total of 772 hourly microdialysis samples were obtained in 17 patients (median Glasgow Coma Scale score 5 ± 2.5, mean age 39.4 ± 20.4 years). The mean (± standard deviation) glutamate levels in the dialysate were evaluated for 9 days, during which the mean peak concentration reached 25.4 ± 13.7 (µM on postinjury Day 3. In each patient transient elevations in glutamate were seen each day. However, these elevations were most commonly seen on Day 3. In all patients there was a mean of 4.5 ± 2.5 transient elevations in glutamate lasting a mean duration of 4.4 ± 4.9 hours. These increases were seen in conjunction with seizure activity. However, in many seizure-free patients the increase in extracellular glutamate occu...