Protective effect of flunarizine against cerebral hypoxia-anoxia in mice and rats.

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Abstract
The protective effect of flunarizine against cerebral hypoxia-anoxia was investigated with various experimental models in mice and rats. The effect of flunarizine was compared with those of cinnarizine, verapamil and pentobarbital. The oral treatment of animals with flunarizine resulted in a consistent and long-lasting protection against cerebral hypoxia-anoxia in all the models examined: cytotoxic anoxia by KCN injection, hypercapnic anoxia induced by stopping artificial respiration, hypobaric hypoxia and normobaric hypoxia. The minimal ED of flunarizine was 1-20 mg/kg. The activity of flunarizine was 4-30 times as potent as that of cinnarizine and pentobarbital. Verapamil showed little or no protective effect. The mode of action of flunarizine was different from that of pentobarbital, which showed protection at anesthetizing doses. Evidently, flunarizine possesses a universal protective effect against cerebral hypoxia-anoxia, though the mechanism involved remains to be clarified. Flunarizine might exert a beneficial effect on O2 insufficiency of the brain resulting from cerebral ischemia.

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