Milde, James H.

Following a period of complete global cerebral ischemia and reperfusion there ensues a low flow state referred to as the delayed postischemic hypoperfusion state. It is unknown whether this low flow state contributes to neuronal injury or whether the magnitude of hypoperfusion correlates with the duration of ischemia. The latter question was addressed in 20 dogs in which complete global ischemia was induced by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) compression for periods of 3, 9, 12, or 18 min. Following reperfusion, CBF (by sagittal sinus outflow) and CMRO 2 were determined for 90 min, and results were correlated with the duration of ischemia. At 90 min postischemia the magnitude of decrease in CBF correlated crudely with the duration of ischemia ( r = – 0.67, p < 0.01). For CMRO 2 correlation of the magnitude of decrease with the duration of ischemia was more evident ( r = –0.74, p < 0.001). Furthermore, the postischemic ratio of CBF to CMRO 2 was virtually identical for all dog groups regardless of the ischemic time. The adequacy of the ratio of CBF to CMRO 2 was reflected by adequate oxygen levels in the sagittal sinus blood of all dogs. The authors conclude that the delayed postischemic hypoperfusion state is probably not an important determinant of neuronal injury since its magnitude appears to be primarily determined by the metabolic needs of the brain.

The present study was designed to determine if the noncompetitive excitatory amino acid antagonist, dizocilpine maleate, when administered after a 17 min period of complete cerebral ischemia in primates, would improve postischemic neurologic function and hippocampal histopathologic outcome when compared to placebo-treated animals. Ten pigtail monkeys were anesthetized and subjected to complete cerebral ischemia using an established neck tourniquet model. Five minutes postischemia, five monkeys received dizocilpine 300 μg/kg i.v. over 5 min, followed by an infusion of 150 μg/kg/h for 10 h. This produced plasma levels of the drug in excess of 30 ng/ml for the duration of the infusion. An additional five monkeys were treated with an identical volume of saline placebo. All monkeys received intensive care for the initial 24 to 48 h postischemia. At 96 h postischemia, there was no significant difference in neurologic function between the two groups ( p = 0.53, with the placebo group having the numerically better outcome). There also was no significant difference between hippocampal histopathology scores between dizocilpine and placebo-treated monkeys. The authors conclude that dizocilpine is not an efficacious therapy in the treatment of neurologic injury that occurs following complete cerebral ischemia in this primate model.

Ten minutes of complete cerebral ischemia was produced in 18 dogs by temporary ligation of the aorta and venae cavae. Dogs were randomly assigned to one of three groups. A bolus dose of 10 μg kg −1 nimodipine, a dihydropyridine calcium entry blocker, followed by a constant infusion of 1 μg kg −1 min −1 was given at 15, 30, or 60 min post ischemia. Cerebral blood flow and metabolism were measured for 2 h postischemia. Delayed treatment with nimodipine ameliorated or reversed the cerebral hypoperfusion that routinely occurs after complete ischemia. In the groups treated at 15 and 30 min, CBF remained above 60 ml min −1 100 g −1 . In the group treated at 60 min, there was a progressive decline in CBF to 37 ml min −1 100 g −1 . Following treatment with nimodipine, CBF immediately increased and was maintained above 50 ml min −1 100 g −1 for the remainder of the study. Once treatment with nimodipine was begun, CBF was approximately double that of an untreated group. Changes in CBF reflected changes in cerebrovascular resistance. Nimodipine had no effect on cerebral metabolism. Since the postischemic hypoperfusion state is believed to contribute to the ultimate neurologic damage following complete ischemia, treatment with nimodipine, even if delayed up to 60 min, may improve the outcome.

In order to investigate the effects of the calcium entry blocker lidoflazine on neurologic outcome in primates following an episode of global brain ischemia. 12 pigtail monkeys ( Macaca nemestrina) were subjected to 17 min of complete cerebral ischemia, followed by 48 h of intensive care treatment and daily neurologic evaluations for 96 h. The monkeys were randomly assigned to receive, in a blind fashion, either lidoflazine 1.0 mg/kg (n = 6) or inactive lidoflazine solvent (n = 6) at 5 min, 8 h, and 16 h postischemia. One monkey in the lidoflazine group did not meet preestablished protocol criteria and was excluded from data analysis. The remaining monkeys were well matched for age, sex, and other physiologic variables. Neurologic outcome was not significantly different between the lidoflazine- and placebo-treated groups (p > 0.5). No monkey in either group achieved a normal neurologic exam by 96 h postischemia. Three lidoflazine-treated monkeys and two placebo-treated monkeys died prior to the 96-h neurologic evaluation. These deaths were judged to be neurologic in origin. The authors conclude that lidoflazine does not improve neurologic outcome in primates when administered after 17 min of complete cerebral ischemia.

Nimodipine is known to improve postischemic cerebral blood flow (CBF) and neurologic outcome in experimental animals. Whether or not the two observations are related is unknown. This study searched for a possible improved rate of brain metabolic recovery in animals treated with nimodipine postischemia. Complete cerebral ischemia was produced for 11 min in 16 dogs, followed by reperfusion for 70 min. Prior to ischemia, glucose was administered (0.75 g · kg −1 ) in 12 dogs. Half of the glucose-treated dogs were given i.v. nimodipine, beginning 5 min postischemia (10 μg · kg −1 bolus followed by 1 μg · kg −1 · min −1 ). The other half were given only saline postischemia. The remaining four dogs were given no glucose and received saline only postischemia. In all dogs, serial brain biopsies were taken at 2, 20, 40, and 70 min postischemia. In 5 dogs, the integrity of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) was tested by injection of Evans blue dye and postmortem examination of the brains. Brain biopsies were assayed for concentrations of phosphocreatine, ATP, ADP, AMP, glucose, lactate, and pyruvate. In all dogs, there was rapid restoration of a normal brain energy state following reperfusion. Brain lactate had returned to near normal in all dogs by 70 min postischemia, and the rate of lactate depletion was not different between groups. The integrity of the BBB was only minimally affected. A portion of the brain lactate was converted to pyruvate rather than crossing the BBB. If lactate is a valid marker of the washout of metabolic products postischemia, there is no apparent benefit resulting from a nimodipine-induced increase in CBF during the initial 70 min following ischemia.

Ten minutes of complete cerebral ischemia was produced in 26 dogs by temporary ligation of the aorta and the venae cavae. Twenty dogs received nimodipine, a calcium entry blocker, 10 μg kg −1 i. v. 2 min after the ischemic period, followed by 1 μg kg −1 min −1 for 2–3 h. Six dogs received only the solvent used for nimodipine. Fourteen dogs received nimodipine for 3 h and were subsequently evaluated neurologically up to 48 h postischemia. In the 12 other dogs, CBF and metabolism were followed for 2 h postischemia while either nimodipine or the solvent only was infused. The results were compared to previously published results for untreated dogs and dogs given nimodipine before the ischemic event. Nimodipine had the same effect on postischemic CBF whether started before or after the ischemic event, nearly doubling the flow when compared with untreated controls, whereas the solvent alone caused only a slight increase in CBF over control. By contrast, nimodipine initiated in the preischemic period significantly improved the neurologic outcome, but when initiated in the post-ischemic period the results were equivocal, such that the outcome was not significantly different from either the untreated group or the group in which nimodipine was initiated preischemia. Metabolic measurements did not give any indication of a specific effect of nimodipine, nor could the metabolic results be used as an indicator of neurologic outcome. The results are consistent with a beneficial effect of nimodipine following complete cerebral ischemia; however, evaluation of neurologic functional effects will require a more sensitive model.