EXPERIMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF PHENOXYBENZAMINE IN CEREBRAL VASOSPASM

The effect of phenoxybenzamine (PBZ) on cerebral vasospasm of the basilar artery, induced by the injection of 2 ml of blood into the cisterna magna of dogs was assessed in chronic experiments. The presence of vasospasm was documented arteriographically. In one group of animals, 12 mg/kg of PBZ was given intravenously 2 hours before the intracisternal injection of blood to ascertain whether this drug would prevent the development of vasospasm for 24 hours. In another group of animals, a 10(-2M) solution of PBZ was given intracisternally 15 minutes after vasospasm was produced, and again 24 hours afterwards, to determine if the drug would reverse an existing spasm. These drug-treated animals were compared with controls which were treated with saline alone. The results indicate that the drug treatment was not statistically superior to saline in any of the groups studied. The finding that saline injected into the cisterna magna reversed the cerebral vasospasm illustrates the importance of this procedure in evaluating effectiveness of drugs and confirms the original observation that washing the cerebrospinal fluid with saline can terminate an experimentally induced vasospasm. Moreover, the fact that intracisternal injections of saline were more effective when given soon after the establishment of vasospasm than when injected 24 hours afterward supports the conclusion of others that the pathogenesis of cerebral vasospasm changes with time. The results also indicate that the presence of cerebral vasospasm in some animals did not prevent the return of normal behaviour.