Release of pentobarbital-induced depression of metabolic rate during bilateral ischemia in the gerbil brain.

Treatment of gerbils with 40 mg/kg of pentobarbital (i.p.) reduced the metabolic rate in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex by approximately 60%. However, the depression of metabolic rate was lost within 40 s of ischemia and further, pentobarbital delayed but did not prevent the depletion of energy metabolites observed in the ischemic brain.