AIMTo investigate the effects of human urotensin II (hUII) on in vivo pia mater microcirculation in rats.

METHODSAdult SD rats were randomly assigned to the following groups: control, sodium chloride injection (NS), UII(10(-6) mol/L), noradrenaline (NA, 10(-6) mol/L), and UII (10(-6) mol/L) + NA (10(-6) mol/L) groups. For recording of microcirculation images in pia mater, skull windows were performed and mounted on the stage of an intravital microscope equipped with a TV camera. Video images of microcirculation were stored by a video cassette recorder. Temporal changes in internal diameter and microcirculatory velocity of microvessels were measured by computer using the Image Pro software. The blood flow in cerebral tissues were measured with PIMII laser Doppler perfusion Imager (Lisca, Sweden).

RESULTSThe internal diameters of arterioles and venules in control group were (35.4 +/- 3.6) microm and (40.6 +/- 8.5) microm, respectively. In UII group, the arterioles and venules contracted immediately after treated with UII and up to the peak at 1 min, the internal diameters of arterioles and venules were (25.6 +/- 3.4) microm and (23.4 +/- 3.3) microm, respectively (P < 0.05). Both microcirculatory velocity in arterioles and venules had no significant changes in UII group (P > 0.05). The blood flow in meninges increased 1 min after treated with UII and up to high peak at 5 min (3.5 +/- 0.4 perfusion unit vs. control 2.3 +/- 0.6, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONhUII can contract microvessels in pia mater of rats and increase microcirculatory blood perfusion to cerebral tissue involved.

Animals ; Cerebrovascular Circulation ; drug effects ; Humans ; Male ; Microcirculation ; drug effects ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Urotensins ; pharmacology

Currently, there are many traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) injections for treating ischemic stroke in the market, most of them have the efficacy of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, but their reasonable applications are worth consideration. From the angles of traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine, TCM injections that are commonly used in clinics were detected for their indications and pharmacological effects, compared in terms of their characteristics of clinical application, precautions, prohibition on use, caution and adverse reactions and categorized, in order to help clinicians with reasonable application of TCM injections.
Blood Circulation ; drug effects ; Cerebrovascular Disorders ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Humans ; Injections

With the popularization of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) technology, the success rate of restoration of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) is gradually improved, and the survival rate and neurological outcome of patients with cardiac arrest are improved. Currently, therapeutic methods for cerebral resuscitation after cardiac arrest are limited. In addition to mild hypothermia for clinical application, the majority of drugs remain in the animal experimental stage. Finding effective brain protection drugs has become a hot spot in the field of brain resuscitation research. This article will review the pharmaceutical progress of research for cerebral resuscitation after cardiac arrest, so that we can study the brain protection mechanism of these drugs better and more targeted.
Cerebrovascular Circulation/drug effects* ; Heart Arrest/drug therapy* ; Humans ; Pharmaceutical Research/trends* ; Resuscitation/methods*

Aged ; Cerebrovascular Circulation ; drug effects ; Dementia, Vascular ; drug therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy

AIMTo investigate the effect of nimodipine (NM) on cerebral blood flow (CBF) in dogs following intranasal administration.

METHODSNM solution was administered intranasally, intravenously (i.v.), and orally to dogs and the change of CBF was determined by using electromagnetic blood flowmeter. MFLab experimental program was applied to monitor the experimental process and analyze data.

RESULTSCBF markedly increased after iv and intranasal application, while large variance was observed after oral dosing. CBF in dogs after three administrations increased by 26.4%, 28.0% and 8.5%, respectively, compared with that of baseline. Following intranasal administration, the onset of action was slightly slower than that after iv injection [(5 +/- 4) min vs (2.2 +/- 1.2) min], however the duration of improvement was the longest [ (25 +/- 17) min].

CONCLUSIONIntranasal delivery for NM can be a promising alternative to parenteral or oral administration.

Administration, Intranasal ; Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Blood Flow Velocity ; drug effects ; Cerebrovascular Circulation ; drug effects ; Dogs ; Female ; Injections, Intravenous ; Male ; Nimodipine ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Vasodilator Agents ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology

This study was performed to examine the influence of isoflurane anesthesia on the pulsatility index (PI) and the peak systolic velocity (PSV) of the blood flow in the basilar artery of dogs by duplex Doppler ultrasonography. Twelve healthy dogs were used to measure the PI and the PSV under the conscious state and isoflurane anesthesia. The pulsatility index (PI) and the peak systolic velocity (PSV) in the basilar artery were measured five times with random intervals. The blood pressure was measured. The PI and PSV values in dogs under isoflurane anesthesia were 1.37 +/- 0.32 and 72 +/- 19 cm/sec, whereas those in the conscious dogs were 1.37 +/- 0.13 and 81 +/- 16 cm/sec, respectively. The indirect mean arterial systolic and diastolic pressures under isoflurane anesthesia were 107 and 51 mmHg, whereas those in the conscious dogs were 133 and 74 mmHg. Though the isoflurane is generally known to induce hypotension, there were no significant differences in the PI and PSV between the isoflurane-anesthetized and the conscious dogs. In conclusion, the isoflurane anesthesia did not influence the PI and PSV in the basilar artery of dogs.
Anesthetics, Inhalation/*pharmacology ; Animals ; Basilar Artery/drug effects/*ultrasonography ; Blood Flow Velocity/drug effects/veterinary ; Blood Pressure/drug effects ; Cerebrovascular Circulation/drug effects ; Dogs/*physiology ; Female ; Isoflurane/*pharmacology ; Male ; Pulsatile Flow/drug effects ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex/veterinary

OBJECTIVEA large body of experimental and clinical observations indicates that disturbances in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and impaired cerebrovascular autoregulation are important in the pathogenesis of germinal matrix-intraventricular hemorrhage (GMH-IVH) and periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), the 2 most important forms of brain injury in pretmature infants. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been used recently to estimate CBF in human newborns. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the correlation of NIRS estimations and cerebral blood flow in newborn piglets, which in turn may help provide the ideal NIRS estimation reflecting the changes of cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular autoregulation.

METHODSTen newborn piglets, aged 1 - 3 days, were randomly assigned to one of the following groups: normal control group (n = 6) and hypotension group (n = 4). Hypotension was induced by withdrawing blood from an arterial catheter. We NIRS was used to determine quantitative changes in cerebral concentrations of oxygenated hemoglobin (DeltaHbO(2)) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (DeltaHHb), then calculated NIRS estimations DeltatHb (DeltaHbO(2)+DeltaHHb) and DeltaHbD (DeltaHbO(2)-DeltaHHb). Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was determined by colored microspheres, and mean artery blood pressure (MABP) measured by arterial catheter pressure transducer was recorded simultaneously. Linear regression methods were used to analyze the relationships between NIRS estimations, CBF measured by micropheres, and MABP.

RESULTSThe correlation of NIRS estimations and CBF was quantitated by calculating coherence scores. A coherence of 1.0 indicates perfect correlation, a coherence of 0 indicates a complete lack of correlation. In the norm group, the experimental study showed strong correlations beween DeltaHbD, DeltatHb and changes in global CBF (GCBF), cerebral cortex CBF (CBFc), coherence scores r(1a) = 0.409, r(1b) = 0.440, r(2a) = 0.394 and r(2b) = 0.400, respectively, P < 0.05. In the hypotension group, the decrease of CBF was significant when the MABP dropped to 35 mm Hg (P < 0.05). With the decreasing MABP, there was a notable increase of DeltaHHb (P < 0.01), a modest increase (P < 0.05) at the beginning and then a marked fall (P < 0.01) of DeltaHbO(2) and DeltatHb was noted when the MABP dropped to 35 mm Hg. DeltaHbD decreased in parallel with the decline in CBF determined by colored microspheres, DeltaHbD varied with CBF during hypotensive episodes. Notably, there was a very strong correlations between DeltaHbD and changes in CBF (coherence scores GCBF r(3a) = 0.890, CBFc r(3b) = 0.887, P < 0.01); Importantly, decreases in DeltatHb did not correlate significantly with decreases in CBF during hypotension (coherence scores GCBF r(4a) = 0.395, CBFc r(4b) = 0.375, P > 0.05). Concordant changes (correlation coefficient > 0.5) in DeltaHbD, CBF and MABP, consistent with impaired cerebrovascular autoregulation, were observed in newborn piglets when MABP was less than 35 mm Hg. When MABP was more than 35 mm Hg, newborn piglets with intact cerebrovascular autoregulation in which CBF are maintained constant despite alternations in MABP have shown inconsistent changes in DeltaHbD, CBF and MABP (correlation coefficient < 0.5).

CONCLUSIONDeltaHbD signal is more sensitive to changes in CBF than DeltatHb signal, in terms of cerebral hemodynamic changes both in normal and hypotensive conditions, while DeltatHb in normal condition. The lower limit of CBF autoregulation in newborn piglets aged 1 - 3 days was 35 mm Hg, and correlation between NIRS estimation (DeltaHbD) and MABP could be used to identify cerebrovascular autoregulation in newborn piglets.

Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Blood Flow Velocity ; drug effects ; Cerebrovascular Circulation ; physiology ; Homeostasis ; Hypotension ; physiopathology ; Oxygen ; metabolism ; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared ; methods ; Swine

OBJECTIVETo detect the influence of mannitol on cerebral blood flow of post-resuscitation children by transcranial Doppler (TCD).

METHODSThe blood flow changes of left side middle cerebral artery (MCA) and extracranial internal carotid artery (EICA) were monitored by TCD in 21 post-resuscitation children. TCD waveforms, peak velocity (Vp), diastolic velocity (Vd), mean velocity (Vm) and pulsitility index (PI) of MCA and EICA were monitored daily and 30 minutes before and after the first dose of mannitol. Glasgow scores were estimated in the meantime. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to the patterns of diastolic flow. Patients in group I showed no diastolic flow or retrograde diastolic flow (n = 9), and patients in group II had positive diastolic flow (n = 12).

RESULTSVp, Vd, Vm, PI of MCA and EICA in group I patients had no significant change after the administration of mannitol and the Glasgow scores were much lower than that of group II patients (P < 0.05). TCD waveforms showed no improvement in group I patients and their outcomes were poor. Vd, Vm and Vp of MCA and Vd of EICA in group II patients increased, PI of MCA decreased (P < 0.05), while Vp, Vm, PI of EICA had no significant change. TCD waveforms recovered within one week. All the patients in this group survived.

CONCLUSIONSThe results suggested that mannitol could improve cerebral perfusion in patients with mild brain damage. These patients usually had increased diastolic blood flow in the early stage. Lack of or retrograde diastolic flow of TCD waveforms might be associated with severe brain damage with poor outcome. Mannitol had no effect on improving cerebral blood flow in these patients.

Adolescent ; Blood Flow Velocity ; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ; Cerebrovascular Circulation ; drug effects ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Mannitol ; pharmacology ; Middle Cerebral Artery ; physiopathology ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial ; methods

OBJECTIVETo observe the clinical therapeutic effect of Shuizhitong capsule (SZT) in treating senile vascular dementia (VD) and on changes of related physio-chemical criteria.

METHODSEighty-five patients with VD were randomly divided into the treated group (n = 51) and the control group (n = 34) in the ratio of 3:2, treated with SZT and Piracetam respectively. Before and after treatment, the Zhang's Dementia Scoring (HDS) and Function of Social Activity Questionnaire (FAQ) scoring, cerebral blood flow and hemorrheologic properties were determined.

RESULTSSZT could significantly improve the patients' clinical symptoms, intracranial hemodynamic condition and the hyperviscosity, hypercoagulation and hyperaggregation status, lower the whole blood and plasma specific viscosity, raise the living standard of partial patients, with significant difference between before and after treatment (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe therapeutic effect of SZT in treating senile VD is definite.

Aged ; Blood Viscosity ; drug effects ; Capsules ; Cerebrovascular Circulation ; drug effects ; Dementia, Vascular ; drug therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Hemorheology ; drug effects ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nootropic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Phytotherapy

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of Xiaoyao Nose Drops (XYND) in stopping episode of migraine.

METHODSAdopted was the randomized double-blinded placebo-controled method, with the 126 patients equally assigned to two groups, the treated group treated with XYND and the control group with placebo, and the therapeutic course was 30 days for all. The clinical total effective rate and effect in alleviating headache were observed. And hemorrheological parameters as well as the blood flow of the anterior cerebral artery (ACA), median cerebral artery (MCA) and posterior cerebral artery (PCA) were measured before and after treatment.

RESULTSThe clinical total effective rate and headache alleviating rate in the treated group were 93.33% and 96.67% respectively, while those in the control group were 18.33% and 20.00% respectively, and comparison between the two groups showed significant difference (all P < 0.01). The blood viscosity (high, middle and low shear), plasma viscosity and fibrinogen got lowered significantly in the treated group after treatment, showing significant difference in comparison either with those before treatment or with those in the control group after treatment (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). The velocity of blood flow in all cerebral arteries lowered significantly, also showing significant difference in comparison either with those before treatment or with those in the control group after treatment (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONXYND is effective in stopping the headache of patients with migraine, and worth applying in clinical practice.

Administration, Intranasal ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Blood Flow Velocity ; drug effects ; Blood Viscosity ; drug effects ; Cerebrovascular Circulation ; drug effects ; Double-Blind Method ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Fibrinogen ; analysis ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Migraine Disorders ; drug therapy