Subdural Hematoma Rat Model with Atorvastatin Treatment

As described in the previous study, we established an SDH rat model by subdural injection of autologous blood 10 (link). Rats were anesthetized with isoflurane (5% induction, 2% maintenance) and prepared by shaving the hair and disinfecting the scalp. A 1-cm incision along the midline exposed the dorsal skull, and a 1.5 mm diameter, 1 mm deep bone window was drilled 3 mm to the right of the bregma. The dura mater was carefully torn using microscopic tweezers, and 400 µL of autologous blood from the femoral vein was injected into the subdural space at a rate of 50 µL/min using a trace injection pump (RWD Bioscience Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, China) equipped with 14G indwelling needles. The indwelling needle was left in place for 10 min to prevent blood leakage before removal. The bone window was sealed with medical glue, and the scalp incision was disinfected, sutured, and postoperative pain was alleviated with intraperitoneal injection of ibuprofen (10 mg/kg). A sham group underwent the same surgical procedure without blood injection, and all surgeries were performed using sterile medical instruments.
For atorvastatin treatment, rats received daily intragastric administration of atorvastatin (Pfizer, US; 3 mg/kg, dissolved in saline). This dosage was consistent with our previous studies 23 (link), 34 (link). The control group received an equal volume of saline.