Individual variations in response of human cerebral arterioles to vasoactive substances, human plasma, and CSF from patients with aneurysmal SAH

Abstract

✓ The capricious appearance of delayed cerebral vasospasm in some but not all patients with an aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) was the stimulus for studying the reactivity of human cerebral arterioles in vitro to various vasoactive agents (prostaglandin F2a, noradrenaline, serotonin, human plasma, and cerebrospinal fluid from patients with aneurysmal SAH). There was a marked variability in response between arterioles from different individuals. The finding of a markedly individual profile in terms of reactivity toward vasoactive substances emphasizes the importance of a human cerebral vessel wall factor in the pathogenesis of cerebral vasospasm.