Interference of levamisole with cerebral edema.

The anthelmintic and immunomodulator drug levamisole is also a thromboxane synthetase inhibitor. The effect of levamisole on cerebral edema in Mongolian gerbils and in rat models of stroke was evaluated. Cerebral ischemia was produced in gerbils by right carotid ligation and in rats by right carotid ligation and anoxia. Mortality and right hemisphere edema were evaluated 24 hours after induction of cerebral anoxia in levamisole treated animals. Levamisole failed to protect gerbils from death or cerebral edema but decreased dose-dependently the cerebral edema in rats. The fact that levamisole inhibits thromboxane synthetase and decrease cerebral swelling in rats supports further tests against human stroke.