T. Tatlisumak et al., Broad-spectrum cation channel inhibition by LOE 908 MS reduces infarct volume in vivo and postmortem in focal cerebral ischemia in the rat, J NEUR SCI, 178(2), 2000, pp. 107-113
Cation channels conduct calcium, sodium and potassium, cations that are lik
ely deleterious in the evolution of focal ischemic injury. We studied the e
ffects of a novel, broad-spectrum inhibitor of several cation channels, LOE
908 MS, on acute ischemic lesion development with diffusion-weighted magne
tic resonance imaging (DWI) and on cerebral perfusion with perfusion imagin
g (PI) in vivo and on cerebral infarct size using 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazoliu
m chloride (TTC) staining postmortem. A total of 18 male Sprague-Dawley rat
s underwent 90 min of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and were rand
omly and blindly assigned to either LOE 908 MS or vehicle starting 30 min a
fter inducing focal ischemia and continuing for 4 h. Whole-brain DWI and mu
ltislice PI were done before initiation of treatment and repeated frequentl
y for the next 3,5 h. DWI-derived lesion volume at 4 h showed a significant
difference in favor of the drug treated group (P=0.03), whereas PI-derived
perfusion deficit volumes did not significantly differ between the groups.
The postmortem infarct volume at 24 h was significantly attenuated in the
treated group in comparison to controls (P=0.0001) and neurological score w
as significantly better in the treated group (P<0.02). Blocking several dis
tinct cation channels with LOE 908 MS significantly reduced infarct size an
d improved neurological outcome without observable adverse effects in this
focal ischemia model. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.