The effect of Medicinal leech therapy on brain edema and neurological deficits in rat stroke model

Stroke is the third cause of death in the world that causes six million deaths annually. One of the oldest methods of treatment is use of leeches to cure diseases. For this reason, in this study have been investigated leech therapy effect on brain edema and neurological deficits caused by stroke. In this study 18 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups. The first group; the control group were received distilled water, The second group were treated with leeches twice: once 10 days before surgery and again 2 hours before surgery. These groups were underwent 60 min middle cerebral artery occlusion and brain edema and neurologic deficits analysis were assessed. In Sham group were not happened treatment and induction of the brain ischemia. Brain edema was analyzed by SPSS18 software by LSD method and neurologic deficits analysis by Mann-Whitney U. The results showed that the leech therapy decreases the brain edema (80.91±0.72) and neurological deficit score (P < 0.05). It seems leech therapy due to reduce brain edema, have a protective effect against neuronal damage and reduces complication of stroke.