Effects of Vinpocetine on Experimental Brain lschemia: Histochemical Study of Brain Monoamines

Takeshi Shibuya & Katsuhiko Sato.

Department of Pharmacology,
Tokyo Medical College.
Igaku No Ayumi, 139, 3, 217-219

Abstract

We investigated the effect of vinpocetine on brain monoamines in rats with experimentally induced cerebral ischemia, using fluorescent histochemical techniques. The results indicate that 1) vinpocetine reversed the decreased brain tissue levels of catecholamines and serotonin following experimental cerebral ischemia; 2) the compound also facilitated the turnover of catecholamines and serotonin in the brain. These facts suggest that vinpocetine, with its proven actions to facilitate the turnover of rnonoamines in the brain and to improve impaired monoamine metabolism in experimental cerebral ischemia, might prove effective in augmenting cerebral blood flow.