Chlorpromazine treatment of blood-brain barrier dysfunction. A quantitative and fluorescence microscopical study on small cerebral stab wounds in the rat.

The extravasation of albumin around small cerebral stab wounds in the rat frontal cortex was studied by fluorescence microscopy after i.v. injection of Evans blue-labeled albumin and by quantitative immunoelectrophoresis after i.v. injection of bovine albumin, in both nonintoxicated and ethanol-intoxicated rats. The extravasion of albumin was enhanced in ethanol-intoxicated compared to nonintoxicated rats, as studied both by immunoelectrophoresis and by fluorescence microscopy. Administration of chloropromazine (2 mg/kg body weight i.v.) 16 h after inflicting cerebral stab wounds decreased the area around the wound showing extravasation of Evans blue-labeled albumin as studied by fluorescence microscopy both in nonintoxicated and in ethanol-intoxicated rats. Quantitative studies showed a significanct decrease in the amount of extravasated albumin around cerebral stab wounds in ehtnaol-entoxicated rats, while the extravasation in nonintoxicated rats was not significantly changed by chlorpromizine treatment.