Treatment to prevent postnatal loss of brain water reduces the risk of intracranial hemorrhage in the beagle puppy.

We compared the risk of intracranial hemorrhage after a hypovolemic, hypotensive insult followed by rapid volume replacement in three groups of beagle puppies: one group less than 12 h old, a second, 72 h of age, and a third, 72 h of age, which had been treated from birth with ovine prolactin in the dose per kilogram which prevents postnatal brain water loss in rabbits. Intracerebral hemorrhage occurred in 14% of day 1 animals, 68% of untreated animals on day 3, and 15% of the group treated with prolactin. These data suggest that postnatal loss of brain water predisposes to intracerebral hemorrhage and that treatment to prevent this water loss can reduce the risk of intracerebral hemorrhage at 72 h of age.