Ritanserin, a 5-HT2 receptor antagonist, increases subcortical blood flow following photothrombotic middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats.
It has been proposed that the reversal of serotonin-mediated vasoconstriction accounts for the neuroprotective effect of serotonin (5-HT2) receptor blockade in focal cerebral ischemia. We investigated the effect of pretreatment with ritanserin, a 5-HT2 receptor antagonist, on cerebral blood flow in a model of photothrombotic middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats. Local cerebral blood flow was measured by iodoantipyrine autoradiography 30 minutes after induction of ischemia. Using a novel image-alignment algorithm, 3-dimensional reconstructions of averaged cerebral blood flow were calculated. The difference-image of local cerebral blood flow between ritanserin and vehicle-treated animals revealed a subcortical zone underlying the ischemic cortex where cerebral blood flow was markedly enhanced indicating a beneficial hemodynamic effect of ritanserin. Three-dimensional image analysis provides a powerful tool to detect inter-group differences of cerebral blood flow which are underestimated by conventional types of data analysis.
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Department of Neurology (D4-5), University of Miami School of Medicine, FL, USA.
Prado
R
R
Zhao
W
W
Watson
B D
BD
Ginsberg
M D
MD
D000818:Animals; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001345:Autoradiography; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D002542:Intracranial Embolism and Thrombosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010777:Photochemistry; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016713:Ritanserin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012702:Serotonin Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D012702:Serotonin Antagonists; D016713:Ritanserin