Effect of infusion speed of 7.5% hypertonic saline on brain edema in patients with craniocerebral injury: An experimental study

This study firstly used a rat traumatic brain injury model to compare the therapeutic effects of different intravenous infusion speed of 7.5% hypertonic saline (HS). Then the authors applied different delivery rate of 7.5% HS to two groups of patients to figure out the optimal infusion rates. A total of 100 rats were randomly divided into control group, group A (7.5% HS 6 mL/h), group B (7.5% HS 3 mL/h), and group C (7.5% HS 2 mL/h). All rats were established for the brain injury model. A total of 30 patients were selected and randomly divided into group A (250 mL/h) and group B (125 mL/h), with 15 cases in each group. Urine amount was recorded per hour; furthermore, blood was extracted from the patients to measure the levels of AQP4, NKCC1, tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Compared with other groups, the expression levels of NKCC1 and AQP4 mRNA in group A was the lowest (P < 0.05). NKCC1 and AQP4 protein expression levels were the lowest in all the groups (P < 0.05). On the aspect of patients, group A displayed more significant difference compared with B group in terms of AQP4, NKCC1, TNF-a, 1L 1 beta, and IL-6 (P < 0.05). In the two groups, a significant difference was noted in the urine amount at 4 h after administration (P < 0.05). In our study, infusion of hypertonic saline (250 mL/h) at the optimal rate of 7.5% HS decreased the intracranial pressure, brain tissue edema, and inflammatory cytokine expression; moreover, it can promote brain tissue protection.