Histopathologic comparison of dexmedetomidine's and thiopental's cerebral protective effects on focal cerebral ischemia in rats

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate whether dexmedetomidine and thiopental have cerebral protective effects after focal cerebral ischemia in rats. Thirty male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly assigned to three groups: control group (Group C, n = 10), dexmedetomidine group (Group D, n = 10), thiopental group (Group T, n = 10). After all rats were anesthetized, they were intubated, then mechanically ventilated. A catheter was inserted into the right femoral artery for continuous mean arterial pressure, physiological parameters and blood sampling at baseline, 5 min after occlusion and 20 min after reperfusion. A catheter was inserted into the left femoral vein for intravenous (iv) medication administration. Right common carotid artery of each rat was isolated and clamped for 45 min. At the end of the duration common carotid artery were undamped and the brain reperfusion was achieved for 90 min. Dexmedetomidine was administered for Group D IV infusion, and Group T received thiopental iv. According to histopathologic scores cerebral ischemia was documented in all rats in Group C, but no ischemia was found in three rats in Group T and in four rats in Group D. Grade 3 cerebral ischemia was documented in three rats in Group C, and in only one rat in both groups T and D. For histopathologic grades the difference between Group T and Group D was not significant (p > 0.05). But the differences between Group C and Group T (p < 0.05) and Group C and Group D (p < 0.01) were statically significant. In conclusion, we demonstrated that dexmedetomidine and thiopental have experimental histopathologic cerebral protective effects on experimental focal cerebral ischemia in rats. (C) 2015 Sociedade Brasileira de Anestesiologia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda.