N-tert-butyl-alpha-phenylnitrone reduces the number of microinfarctions in the rabbit brain cortex.

Dementia due to cerebral ischemic lesions is relatively common in the elderly. Since many of these lesions are probably caused by emboli, studying emboli-induced cerebral lesions in rabbits should, hopefully, provide information that is useful when searching for a means of preventing and treating vascular dementia in humans. Using magnetic resonance imaging we have found that N-tert-butyl-alpha-phenyl-nitrone (a free radical scavenger) reduced the number of emboli-induced cerebral microinfarctions in the rabbit cortex but did not have any impact on the number of infarctions found in the subcortical structures. The results suggest that significant amount of free radicals are produced in the ischemic foci located in the cortex, but not in the ischemic foci located in the subcortical structures. This finding may be of importance when considering treatments for cerebral ischemia in humans.