3.1 FFA improved survival and neurologic outcome after CA/CPR
A total of 200 mice were used for the study (Fig. 1B). Among them, 180 mice underwent CA/CPR and 20 mice received sham operation. Of the 153 mice that successfully resuscitated, 29 mice died before the settled time points were excluded. There was no difference in body weight, time required for ROSC, total epinephrine dose, and heart rate among the experimental groups (Table S1, S2). The partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) and oxygen saturation (SaO2) of arterial blood samples obtained at 2 h after CPR did not differ among the experimental groups (data not shown). There was no difference in core body temperature among the experimental groups for 1 h after CA/CPR (data not shown).
We firstly observed the survival rate during 7 days after CA/CPR and the results revealed that 35% mice (7 of 20) survived in the vehicle group compared with 65% mice (13 of 20) in the FFA group until day 7 at the end of the study (P < 0.05) (Fig. 2A). Furthermore, we used a 10-point scoring system to assess the overall neurologic deficits and found that FFA- treated mice displayed significant better performance on this test at 3 days after ROSC (Fig. 2B). Nonetheless, no apparent difference was found in the neurologic score at 7 days between the vehicle and FFA group, possibly because the animals with more severe neurological deficits in the vehicle group had died. Collectively, these data indicated that post-CA treatment with FFA resulted in better 7-day survival and functional outcome.
3.2 FFA alleviated neuronal loss and suppressed activation of glial cells