Biochemical and Molecular Biological Assessments of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage - Animal Models of Acute Neurological Injuries: Injury and Mechanistic Assessments - page 404

Chapter 30
Biochemical and Molecular Biological Assessments
of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
Joseph F. Clark
Abstract
Biochemical and molecular biological assessments of subarachnoid hemorrhage require an improved
knowledge of the pathways, responses, and signifi cance of the complicated events that occur following
subarachnoid hemorrhaging. Blood in the subarachnoid space produces a wide range of physiologic, meta-
bolic, and pathologic responses. Several of these responses are necessary to recover from the hemorrhaging
and clean up the blood, but others may cause and/or contribute to pathologies that negatively impact
patient outcome. In this article, the biochemical and molecular events that are relevant to assessing the
subarachnoid hemorrhage are discussed with an eye towards codifying relevant diagnostic strategies to
improve patient care.
Key words: Blood, Hemolysis, Bilirubin, Bilirubin oxidation products, Oxidative stress
1. Introduction
There is a classic style described for writing a compelling argument
which involves; pathos, logos, and ethos. This represents the three
key components that should be addressed to build a foundation
when making an argument. I am going to engage those three
subjects when building a case for and providing supporting evi-
dence concerning biochemical and molecular assessments of suba-
rachnoid hemorrhage.
In this chapter, we discuss the biochemical and molecular
changes that occur because of subarachnoid hemorrhage and pro-
vide an argument to better understand those changes such that
they can be used for reading the events occurring in the patients'
brain postsubarachnoid hemorrhage. Metabolites from the brain
enter the cerebral spinal fl uid and eventually the blood and these
“markers” are diagnostic, prognostic, and representative of the
events occurring following the hemorrhage. Therefore, a better