How Safe is the Use of Intrathecal Fluorescein? An Experimental Study

Abstract

AIM: To investigate the effects of fluorescein-sodium on neural tissues.MATERIAL and METHODS: Twenty-one Wistar rats were randomly divided into three experimental groups: control (group 1) andfluorescein-sodium groups with different doses (groups 2 and 3). In the control group, craniectomy following with durotomy wasperformed with the help of a loupe microscope, and a dry sponge was overlayed to the brain tissue. In the study groups, the opendura was covered with a sponge soaked with 0.02 mg (group 2) and with 0.2 mg (group 3) fluorescein sodium following craniectomy.Three weeks postoperatively, rats were sacrificed for the histopathologic evaluations.RESULTS: Fluorescein-induced apoptosis occurs in a dose-dependent manner in rats’ neurons. It was determined that neuron andneuroglial cell TUNEL staining was statistically different among the three groups (p