An assessment of the cerebral protective effects of etomidate in a model of incomplete forebrain ischemia in the rat.

The cerebral protective effects of etomidate were evaluated in a model of incomplete forebrain ischemia. Fourteen Wistar-Kyoto rats were anesthetized with halothane. After preparation, the rats were alloted to either the control group (halothane anesthesia, n = 7) or the etomidate group (n = 7). In the etomidate group, immediately before and during the period of ischemia, the animals received etomidate in sufficient concentration to achieve electroencephalogram burst suppression (loading dose, 7.5 mg/kg; infusion, 0.3-0.5 mg/kg/min). Both groups were subjected to a 10-minute ischemic insult accomplished by bilateral carotid artery occlusion and simultaneous hypotension (mean arterial pressure, 35 mm Hg). Histological evaluation of the brain was performed after a 4-day recovery period. Injury was evaluated in coronal brain sections in five structures: neocortex, striatum, reticular nucleus of the thalamus, and the CA1 and CA3 areas of the hippocampus. The location of the sections in the rostral-caudal axis was chosen to encompass anterior areas within the core of the ischemic territory as well as more posterior regions within the anticipated "watershed" zone between the occluded anterior and the intact posterior circulations. In the animals that received etomidate, statistically significant (P less than 0.05) reduction in the severity of the ischemic injury was observed in the CA3 area and in the ventral portion of the CA1 area of the hippocampus in the more posterior sections. There was an apparent trend toward protection in other structures in both rostral and caudal sections, but these changes were not statistically significant.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)