Dopaminergic drugs may counteract behavioral and biochemical changes induced by models of brain injury.

The dopaminergic drugs, bromocriptine, cabergoline, dihydroergocryptine, pergolide and ropinirole were injected subcutaneously (s.c.) at the dose of 0.1, 0.5 and 1 mg/kg/day for 7 days into male rats of the Sprague-Dawley strain. The drug pre-treatment reverted amnesia induced in rats by hypobaric hypopxia and tested in active and passive avoidance tasks. A restoration of memory retention, as assessed in a step-through passive avoidance task, was found in animals with a 2-month brain occlusive ischemia and exposed to dopaminergic drugs for 7 days. For behavioral effects in both active and passive avoidance tests in both experimental models, the rank of relative potency was ropirinole>bromocriptine=cabergoline>pergolide>dihydroergocryptine. Spontaneous ambulation of animals with brain occlusive ischemia was increased by the higher doses of drugs. All dopaminergic drugs reduced kainate mortality rate. The rank of relative potency for this effect was ropirinole=bromocriptine=cabergoline>pergolide=dihydroergocryptine. However, no change was found in other seizure parameters (latency to first convulsion and total number of convulsions) after drug treatment. A biochemical analysis of glutathione redox index (glutathione reduced/glutathione oxidized ratio) in discrete brain areas revealed that exposure to dopaminergic drugs increased this parameter in frontal cortex, striatum and hippocampus of animals subject to hypobaric hypoxia and brain occlusive ischemia. For this effect, the relative potency rank was ropirinole>bromocriptine=cabergoline>>pergolide=dihydroergocryptine. These behavioral and biochemical findings suggest that dopaminergic drugs may counteract either behavioral or biochemical changes induced by experimental models of brain injury. This activity was found after protective activity (as found in animals pre-treated with these drugs and exposed to hypobaric hypoxia) or reversal of brain injury (as found in animals treated after 2-month occlusive brain ischemia). Their neuroprotective activity probably involves the reduction/oxidation balance of the glutathione system in the brain.