Effects of naftidrofuryl on cerebral hemodynamics, metabolism and function after a retracted ischaemia.

Unilateral microemboli were formed in the brains of Long Evans rats by means of an intracarotid injection of microspheres (50 mu). This embolization resulted in a decrease in blood flow, severe cerebral oedema and a modification of glucose uptake. Furthermore, these microemboli affected a conditioned avoidance response. Naftidrofuryl enabled a better recovery of the processes involved in the expression of acquisition. This has been related to a decrease in the development of oedema on one side and to a better glucose uptake on the other. These data demonstrated that naftidrofuryl influences the sequelae of rapidly regressive ischaemia.

[Cerebral blood flow, metabolism and learning after a cerebral infarction in the rat (author's transl)]. / Débit cérébral, métabolisme et comportement a la suite d'un infarctus cérébral chez le rat.

Experimental microembolization of the rat brain has been used as a model for the production of cerebral microinfarction which resulted in a decrease in blood flow and secondary brain edema with changes in the oxidative metabolic pathways. The use of radioactive microspheres as embolizing agents allowed to determine the number of microinfarctions and their localization. In every microinfarct, oedema developed and it could be quantified by measuring the water percentage as soon as the fourth hour following the microembolization. The activity of oxygen-dependent enzymes was severely reduced in the ischemic area around which hyperemia was present. A quick decrease in the ATP and glucose levels and an increase in the lactate levels were observed, showing that the energetic metabolism was deviated towards the anaerobic pathway. On the fifth day following the microembolization, the oedema disappeared. The cellular metabolic activity and the cerebral blood flow almost returned to normal values within the same time. The simultaneously study of an avoidance response in a conditioned learning test showed a correlation between the reappearance of this response and the regression of the oedema.