Recent hypothesis suggested that intracellular accumulation of calcium is a common denominator of ischemic celullar damage.
Flunarizine, a calcium entry blocker, posses vasodilating properties in cerebral vascular beds and clinically used in circulatory disorders. The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of flunarizine on ischemic and hypoxic brain damage. An ischemic model was made by bilateral carotid artery ligation (BCAL) in Wistar strain rat. Hypoxic model was made by intravenous injection(i.v.) of KCN to rats and mice. In mice, flunarizine not only reduced the mortality of KCN, but also delayed the onset time of convulsion. The contents of ATP, creatine phosphate and glucose, cerebral energy metabolite, decreased 30 minutes after BCAL and KCN i, v, while that of lactate increased. But these variations were suppressed by flunarizine. Furthermore, increase in the dosage of flunarizne generally promoted the recovery of cerebral energy metabolites in hypoxic animals.
The results suggest that flunarizine had a protective effect against ischemic and hypoxic brain damage due to its ameliorating action on the cerebral energy metabolism.
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