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, 10 microg.kg(-1) in bolus followed by infusion of 0.33 microg.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 Copyright 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.