Effect of ifenprodil, a polyamine site NMDA receptor antagonist, on brain edema formation following asphyxial cardiac arrest in rats.
Keywords
Coimriú
OBJECTIVE
Brain edema occurs in experimental and clinical cardiac arrest (CA) and is predictive of a poor neurological outcome. N-Methyl--aspartate (NMDA) receptors contribute to brain edema elicited by focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). Ifenprodil, a NMDA receptor antagonist, attenuates brain edema and injury size in rats after focal cerebral I/R. We assessed the hypothesis that ifenprodil reduces CA-elicited brain edema.
METHODS
Eighteen male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to group 1 (normal control, n=6), group 2 (placebo-treated CA, n=6), or group 3 (ifenprodil-treated CA, n=6). CA was induced by 8 min of asphyxiation and the animals were resuscitated with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), ventilation, epinephrine (adrenaline), and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3). Ifenprodil of 10 mg/kg or a placebo vehicle was given intraperitoneally 5 min before CA. Brain edema was determined by brain wet-to-dry weight ratio at 1 h after resuscitation.
RESULTS
There were no differences between groups 2 and 3 in all physiological variables at baseline. Time from asphyxiation to CA was 201.5 +/- 7.5 s in group 2 and 160.7 +/- 10.4 s in group 3 (P<0.001). Resuscitation time was 68.2 +/- 13.3 s in group 2 and 92.8 +/- 18.2 s in group 3 (P<0.05). Ifenprodil decreased mean arterial pressure (MAP) before asphyxiation, from 128 +/- 7 in group 2 to 82 +/- 15 mmHg in group 3 (P<0.001), and negated immediate post-resuscitation hypertension. Brain wet-to-dry weight ratio was 5.64 +/- 0.44 in group 1, 7.34 +/- 0.95 in group 2 (P<0.01 versus group 1), and 5.93 +/- 0.40 in group 3 (P<0.05 versus group 2).
CONCLUSIONS
Ifenprodil reduces CA-elicited brain edema. In addition, we observed significant hemodynamic changes caused by ifenprodil.