The effects of nicardipine given after 10-minutes complete global cerebral ischemia on neurologic recovery in dogs

The effect of nicardipine (NC) on neurologic recovery from ischemic insult after 10-minutes complete global cerebral ischemia was evaluated in dogs by examination of neurologic recovery score (NRS: complete recovery = 100, death = 0). Ischemia was achieved by occlusion of ascending aorta, and NC, 10µg·kg^–1 in bolus followed by infusion of 0.33µg·kg^–1·min^–1 for 2 hours, was administered immediately after re-establishment of circulation. The mortality at 7th day was 2/9 in the control © and 1/9 in the NC group (ns). NRS on 2nd day was 52.3 ± 6.8 in the C and 70.6 ± 6.5 in the NC (P 0.05), but that on 7th day did not differ between the two groups. The numbers of dogs recovered to over 80 in NRS on the 2nd day was 1/9 in the C and 5/9 in the NC (P 0.05), but that on the 7th day increased to 3/9 in the C and remained at 5/9 in the NC (ns). These results suggest that NC accelerates the early neurologic recovery from ischemic damage, but influences little the final outcome.(Iwatsuki N, Ono K, Takahashi M et al.: The effects of Nicardipine given after 10-minutes complete global cerebral ischemia on neurologic recovery in dogs. J Anesth 4: 337–342, 1990)