2-3-dioxo-6-nitro-7-sulfamoylbenzo(f)quinoxaline and Brain-Edema

N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and non-NMDA receptors were found to be involved in development of functional disorders caused by hexachlorophene. In order to specify the role of glutamate receptors we studied the protective effects of the selective antagonist of the kainate/(+/-)-alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA) receptor/channel 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-6-nitro-2, 3-dioxo-benzo[f]quinoxaline-7-sulphonamide disodium (NBQX) and of the non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist ifenprodil tartrate on coordinative motor behaviour of adult male Wistar rats as assessed in a simple 'ladder-test'. Neurotoxic injury of the cerebrum after hexachlorophene administration and putative amelioration after treatment with test substances was demonstrated histologically. Hexachlorophene-induced motor disturbance remitted spontaneously when stopping the noxis, but remittance occurred significantly earlier when NBQX [0.45 and 0.6 mg/kg intraperitoneal (i.p.)] was applied as well. Ifenprodil (0.15 to 1.2 mg/kg) did not improve the motor function. Vacuolation of white matter of the whole cerebrum was observed after 3 weeks of treatment with hexachlorophene. These morphological alterations caused by hexachlorophene treatment [central nervous system (CNS) vacuolation] spontaneously revert only after 5-6 weeks. The 5-day duration with test substances was too short for remission of vacuolation which thus may not apply to the situation after treatment with glutamate antagonists, despite improvement of motor function. The results suggest that kainate/AMPA receptor channels are at least partially involved in the mechanism of brain damage induced by hexachlorophene, however, the polyamine binding site of the NMDA receptor evidently is not involved.

Topics: Animals; Behavior, Animal; Brain; Brain Edema; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; Hexachlorophene; Male; Motor Activity; Motor Skills Disorders; Piperidines; Quinoxalines; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Receptors, AMPA; Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate

We have previously shown that treatment with glutamate receptor antagonists after focal ischemia can partially reverse acute lesions measured with diffusion-weighted MRI. The goal of this study was to examine the quantitative nature of these effects of neuroprotection.. Rats were subjected to permanent occlusion of the middle cerebral artery under halothane anesthesia and treated with 2,3-dihydroxy-6-nitro-7-sulfamoyl-benzo(F)quinoxaline (NBQX) (30 mg/kg IP; two doses given immediately after ischemia and 1 hour after ischemia) or given injections of saline. Diffusion-weighted MRI scans were performed to map the changes in water diffusivity during the first 3 hours after ischemia. Apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) within the ischemic hemisphere were calculated, and ischemic changes were expressed as absolute reductions and as a percentage of contralateral mean values. Relative perfusion deficits in the ischemic hemisphere were assessed with dynamic MRI of transient changes in transverse relaxation rates (delta R2*).. Analysis with ADC probability distribution functions showed that focal ischemia was present with gradients in ADC reductions emanating from the center to the periphery of the lesion. Ischemic evolution in control rats was manifested as a progressive shift of the probability distribution functions over time. NBQX treatment resulted in a reverse shift of these probability functions. By 3 hours after occlusion, probability distribution functions were significantly improved in treated rats (P < .05). Because of the temporal evolution of the probability distribution functions, ADC thresholds that correlated with histological outcomes of infarction changed over time. NBQX did not alter the cerebral perfusion index, measured as delta R2* peak values.. The results indicate that ADC probability distribution functions can be used to quantitatively evaluate the effects of neuroprotective treatment on the gradients of injury in focal cerebral ischemia. The probability functions also allow for intrasubject comparisons and may therefore be useful for exploring therapeutic windows.

Topics: Animals; Body Water; Brain Damage, Chronic; Brain Edema; Brain Ischemia; Cerebral Infarction; Diffusion; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Nerve Tissue Proteins; Neuroprotective Agents; Quinoxalines; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Receptors, AMPA

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) of rats was opened by infusing 10 mg protamine sulphate (200 microliters in 30 s) into the right internal carotid artery. Ten minutes later, tirilazad, a 21-aminosteroid (3 mg/kg): NBQX, an AMPA receptor antagonist (5 mg/kg); or dixyrazine, a phenotiazine derivate (10 mg/kg), was administered intravenously and the rats were killed 2 h after protamine infusion. Brain specific gravity was determined in the frontal, parietal and occipital cortex and in the striatum. In separate experiments, serum albumin content was determined in the brain of rats by immunoelectrophoresis 2 h after protamine infusion with or without tirilazad pretreatment. Specific gravity was significantly higher in all of the studied brain regions in rats given tirilazad or NBQX than in those given vehicle or dixyrazine (p < 0.001). A combination of tirilazad and NBQX was significantly more efficient than either drug alone in reducing edema in the occipital cortex (p < 0.05) and more efficient than NBQX alone in the frontal and parietal cortex (p < 0.05). None of the drugs reduced the albumin content in CSF; in addition, tirilazad failed to reduce albumin extravasation in the brain and CSF when given before protamine infusion. We conclude that the anti-edematous effect of tirilazad and NBQX is related to cellular events within the brain and not to a reduction of leakage over the BBB.

Topics: Animals; Blood-Brain Barrier; Brain Edema; Cerebral Cortex; Infusions, Intra-Arterial; Lipid Peroxides; Male; Phenothiazines; Pregnatrienes; Premedication; Protamines; Quinoxalines; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Receptors, AMPA; Serum Albumin; Specific Gravity

Brain edema caused by glutamate excitotoxicity was studied in well oxygenated neonatal cerebrocortical brain slices (350 mu thick). Slices exposed to 60 minutes of 2 mM glutamate, with or without glutamate antagonists (dizocilpine, kynurenate, or NBQX), were allowed to recover for 60 minutes. The protocol was identical to that in noninvasive multinuclear NMR spectroscopy studies (31P/1H/19F) of live slices. Percent water and swelling were determined invasively in isolated slices by wet and dry weight measurements before and after glutamate exposure. Edema was detectable within minutes in all experiments with glutamate exposures, but not in untreated control slices. Dizocilpine, kynurenate, and NBQX differently affected swelling, which correlated with PCr and ATP loss in separate NMR studies. Synaptic glutamate receptor activation appears to initiate events causing both edema and energy failure. Multiple glutamate receptor types seem to be involved. No glutamate antagonist provided greater protection against both edema and energy loss than dizocilpine. Dizocilpine might also block voltage-dependent Na+ channels, and provide protection via mechanisms other than NMDA-receptor dependent channel antagonism.

Topics: Animals; Brain Edema; Cerebral Cortex; Culture Techniques; Dizocilpine Maleate; Energy Metabolism; Glutamic Acid; Kynurenic Acid; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Organ Size; Quinoxalines; Rats; Receptors, AMPA; Receptors, Glutamate; Sodium Channels

The aim of our study was to evaluate whether blockade of alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptors could reduce brain edema in two experimental models of edema following opening of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The brain specific gravity was determined 2 h after opening the BBB by a 30-s infusion of protamine sulfate (10 mg in 200 microliters 0.9% NaCl) or arabinose (1.5 or 1.8 mol/L, 0.06 ml.s-1) into the right internal carotid artery. Cisternal CSF was withdrawn for albumin determination before the carotid infusion and before killing 2 h later. After infusion of protamine sulfate or arabinose, CSF albumin increased in all groups. The brain specific gravity was significantly lower in the right than in the left (control) frontal, parietal, and occipital cortex and striatum. NBQX (2,3-dihydroxy-6-nitro-7-sulfamoylbenxo(F)quinoxaline), an AMPA receptor antagonist, given intravenously 10 min after opening the BBB (5 mg/kg), significantly increased the specific gravity in the treated rats (p < 0.01 for the difference from control rats) without reducing CSF albumin or albumin extravasation in the brain as evaluated with Evans blue. We hypothesize that intracerebral (glial?) AMPA receptors may play a role in brain edema following opening of the BBB.

Topics: Animals; Blood-Brain Barrier; Brain Edema; Dizocilpine Maleate; Evans Blue; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; Injections, Intravenous; Male; Quinoxalines; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Receptors, AMPA; Specific Gravity; Staining and Labeling

The efficacy of delayed thrombolysis with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator was tested in combination with the ischaemic protecting drug NBQX in an embolic stroke model. In 113 rats the carotid territory was embolized with a fibrin-rich clot formed in polyethylene tube. Hemispheric cerebral blood flow (CBF) was measured by intra-arterial 133Xenon injection method before and after embolization. Two hours after embolization 67 animals were treated with tissue plasminogen activator 20 mg kg-1, 46 control animals with saline. NBQX was given to 53 animals, of which 41 animals also received thrombolytic therapy and 12 were saline controls. Carotid angiography displayed the rate of occlusion of the cerebral arterial supply before and after treatment. Brains were fixed after two days, evaluated neuropathologically, and infarct volume was measured. Embolization caused a 60-78% reduction of median CBF. The comparison of post-treatment angiography of thrombolytic treated animals to controls showed significant (p < 0.01) reperfusion in thrombolytic treated animals, while NBQX alone did not enhance reperfusion. Thrombolytic therapy significantly reduced the total infarct volume from 19.5% to 4.5% of embolized hemisphere volume (p = 0.006). NBQX alone reduced total infarct volume from 19.5% to 6.5% and cortical infarct volume from 7.9% to 0.3% (p = 0.03). In thrombolytic treated animals NBQX reduced total infarct volume from 4.5% to 2.1%. The more than 50% reduction of total infarction volume caused by NBQX was not statistically significant due to the variation of infarct size in this model. Small haemorrhagic lesions in infarcts were observed in thrombolytic treated animals. The clinical outcome correlated well with infarct volume.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Topics: Animals; Brain Edema; Cerebral Infarction; Cerebrovascular Circulation; Fibrinolysis; Intracranial Embolism and Thrombosis; Male; Paralysis; Quinoxalines; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Recombinant Proteins; Thrombolytic Therapy; Tissue Plasminogen Activator; Weight Loss

Glutamate (2.5 mg) was administered after the blood-brain barrier had been opened by a unilateral intracarotid infusion of 5 mg protamine sulfate in rats. Whereas the brain specific gravity, measured 24 h later, did not differ between the injected and non-injected side after protamine alone, glutamate significantly reduced the specific gravity in the right hemisphere indicating brain edema (P less than 0.01). NBQX, a potent AMPA receptor antagonist, significantly reduced the edema (P less than 0.01) and completely inhibited the glutamate mediated increase in albumin content in cerebrospinal fluid (P less than 0.01).

Topics: Animals; Blood Pressure; Blood-Brain Barrier; Brain; Brain Edema; Glutamates; Glutamic Acid; Hematocrit; Male; Oxadiazoles; Protamines; Quinoxalines; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Receptors, AMPA; Receptors, Neurotransmitter; Serum Albumin