Objective   To explore the expression of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in brain tissue surrounding hematoma of cerebral hemorrhage mice and the correlation between TLR4 and neurologic deficits.    Methods   The cerebral hemorrhage models of mice were made by injecting autologous arterial blood collected from caudal artery. Thirty male C57BL mice were randomly divided into 2 groups: sham-operation and model groups. Three mice of each group were killed for the brain tissue surrounding hema

toma in 6

24

48

72 h and 5 d after operation respectively.  The expression of TLR4 mRNA in the tissue samples was determined by real-time PCR

and neurologic deficits were determined at the same time points. The correlation of the expression and the deficits was analyzed.    Results   The expression of TLR4 gene in model group was higher evidently than that in sham-operation group (P0.05). Cerebral edema and neurologic deficits were significantly increased

especially at 48 to 72 h after operation. Correlation analysis showed that there was a linear correlation of the expression of TLR4 and neurologic deficits (r

2

=0.973

P0.05).    Conclusion   TLR4 plays an important role in brain lesions of the cerebral hemorrhage

and maybe the key point of inflammatory reactions after intracerebral hemorrhage.