CHARACTERIZATION OF THE INTRACRANIAL PRESSURE BEHAVIOUR IN THE PILOCARPINE EXPERIMENTAL MODEL OF EPILEPSY USING MINIMALLY INVASIVE AND INVASIVE METHODS

• Grant number: 11/04785-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Sergio Mascarenhas Oliveira
• Grantee: Danilo Augusto Cardim
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Intracranial pressure (ICP) is a major neurological parameters in animals and humans. It is a function of the relationship among the contents of the cranium (brain parenchyma, cerebrospinal fluid and blood) and the volume of the skull. Increased ICP can cause serious physiological effects or even death in patients who do not quickly receive proper care, which include ICP monitoring. Epilepsy is a set of disorders of the central nervous system resulting in excessive and abnormal neuronal discharge, and usually associated with hypersynchronism and/or hyperexcitability. The ICP behavior in individuals with epilepsy is not well elucidated in the scientific literature, since there are few studies linking these two important neurological factors. In this work, we are going to use a new minimally invasive method for ICP monitoring, developed by our research group, and other invasive method, to assess the intracranial pressure behavior, concerning its frequency default, in chronic epileptic rats subjected to the experimental model of pilocarpine.