[Effect of dl-3-n-butylphthalide (NBP) on purine metabolites in striatum extracellular fluid in four-vessel occlusion rats].

The effects of NBP on concentrations of some purine metabolites in extracellular fluid of rat striatum during global ischemia and reperfusion were studied. Global ischemia was produced by the four-vessel occlusion method. Push-pull cannula was implanted stereotaxically into the striatum of rat and was perfused with Ringer's solution at a flow rate of 2.5 microliters.min-1. The level of adenosine(Ade), inosine(Ino), hypoxanthine(Hyp) and xanthine(Xan) in perfusates were measured with HPLC connected with a UV detector. The results indicate that the levels of ade, ino, hyp and xan were significantly increased (about 3-5 times of initial value) during cerebral ischemia and reperfusion. NBP at the dose of 20 or 40 mg.kg-1 given intra-peritoneally 20 min before ischemia was shown to depress the increase of ade, ino, hyp and xan during ischemia and reperfusion dose dependently. But no change in the level of purine metabolites was found in sham operated rats. It has been known that harmful free radicals were produced when xan and uric acid were formed by xanthine oxidase during reperfusion. This might be important for the development of ischemic injuries. Our findings suggest that the effect of NBP might be beneficial for protection against post-ischemic neuronal damage.