The antihypoxic effect of ethymisole: a comparison with other nootropic drugs.

Ethymisole reveals a potent antihypoxic effect which is produced probably both by an acute free radical scavenging property and a persisting restitutive component of action. This is seen in its effect on posthypoxic inhibition of dopamine release from striatum slices of adult rats. Though ethymisole is considered a drug which increases brain adaptive potency, it does not modify the stimulus-response relation of potassium-evoked dopamine release in an adaptation-like manner, as it is seen after a long-lasting piracetam treatment.