Inflammatory responses in the rat brain in response to different methods of intra-cerebral administration

Direct intra-cerebral administration of substances into the brain parenchyma is a common technique used by researchers in neuroscience. However, inflammatory responses to the needle may confound the results obtained following injection of these substances. In this paper we show that the use of a glass micro-needle for intra-cerebral injection reduces mechanical injury, blood–brain barrier breakdown and neutrophil recruitment in response to the injection of vehicle or interleukin-1, compared to using a 26-gauge Hamilton syringe. Therefore, the use of a glass micro-needle to inject substances intra-cerebrally appears to cause minimal injection artefact and should be the method of choice.