Cerebrovascular permeability and cerebral blood flow in hypertension induced by gammahydroxybutyric acid

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Abstract
A sustained increase in blood pressure was obtained by i.p. or i.v. administration of .gamma.-hydroxybutyric acid (GHBA, 1 g/kg) in rats under nitrous oxide anesthesia and in conscious rats with indwelling catheters in the aorta and a jugular vein. Evans blue-albumin and 125I-labeled serum albumin, givne i.v. before GHBA, were used to study the function of the blood-barrier in rats killed 60 min after the injection of the drug. Brains from rats subjected to acute hypertension while awake showed less extravasation of albumin than did brains from anesthetized rats. Sectioning of the cervical symphathetic nerves did not increase extravasation in conscious rats. The cerebral blood flow, determinated with the 14C-ethanol technique, did not significantly differ in GHBA-treated rats and controls. Because of the sustained increase in blood pressures, GHBA-induced hypertension might be a useful model for the study of long-term effects on the brain of hypertensive opening of the blood-brain barrier.