OBJECTIVE The management of patients with ruptured cerebral aneurysms and severe vasospasm is subject to considerable controversy. We intended to describe herein an endovascular technique for the simultaneous treatment of aneurysms and vasospasm. MATERIALS AND METHODS A series of 11 patients undergoing simultaneous endovascular treatment of ruptured aneurysms and vasospasm were reviewed. Afte...

Acute cerebral hypoxia causes rapid calcium shifts leading to neuronal damage and death. Calcium channel antagonists improve outcomes in some clinical conditions, but mechanisms remain unclear. In 18 healthy participants we: (i) quantified with multiparametric MRI the effect of hypoxia on the thalamus, a region particularly sensitive to hypoxia, and on the whole brain in general; (ii) investiga...

This study compared efficacy of two polyvalent antivenoms (Saudi Arabian and Egyptian), against lethality and pathophysiological changes of Leiurus quinquestriatus quinquestriatus (LQQ) scorpion venom in mice. Additionally, the study examined whether treatment with selected ion channel modulators, lidocaine, nimodipine or amiodarone would be effective, alone or combined with the antivenoms. The...

This study evaluates the hypothesis that ethanol alone, or in diluents for drugs used to protect hypoxic mice, is responsible in part for an increased tolerance to hypoxia (4-5% oxygen). The change in hypoxic tolerance following i.v. or i.p. administration of ethanol, diazepam, nimodipine and various diluent components was measured. Diazepam (50 mg/kg i.v.) increased hypoxic tolerance to 700 +/...

Sustained high levels of corticosterone (CORT), one of the major stress-induced hormones in the rat, were suggested as generating 'accelerated brain aging' and were shown to induce both specific brain changes in the hippocampus and learning impairments in young and middle-aged Fischer-344 rats. Evidence that altered calcium (Ca) homeostasis may play a major role in brain aging has accumulated o...

The whole-cell patch clamp technique was used to identify and to characterize volume-activated Cl- current (ICl(vol)) in fibroblasts derived from human periodontal ligament. During osmotic cell swelling, the cells exhibited an outwardly rectifying current, which was dependent upon the concentration of external Cl-. The anion permeability sequence of the chloride channel for anions was as follow...

L-type calcium channels (LTCC) are important functional elements of hippocampal neurons contributing to processes like memory formation and gene expression. Mice lacking the Ca(V)1.2 channel in hippocampal pyramidal cells exhibited defects in spatial memory (Moosmang et al. 2005) and lowered frequency of repetitive action potential (AP) firing (Lacinova et al. 2008). We tested the contribution ...

As L-type voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) control Ca(2+) influx and depolarisation of cardiac and vascular smooth muscle, they represent a specific therapeutic target for calcium channel blockers (CCBs), which are approved and widely used to treat hypertension, myocardial ischaemia and arrhythmias. L-type currents also play a role in calcium entry in the sensory cells of the inner ear. I...

Background: Opioids like morphine produce side effects ranging from nausea and vomiting, pruritus, over sedation, dizziness and urinary retention to respiratory depression. Particularly, on chronic administration, it leads to development of tolerance. Combining opioids with certain other drugs (adjuvant analgesics) like ketamine, which is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, not ...

Systematic Review of Nimodipine To the Editor: I noted with interest the systematic review of nimodipine from Dr. Horn et al (Stroke. 2001;32;2433–2438). The authors are to be complimented for a thorough review of difficult literature; their summary brings clarity to a previously confusing issue. I concur with their conclusions that preclinical data suggested nimodipine NOT be pursued in clinic...