Protective effect of Dl-3- n –butylphthalide on recovery from cardiac arrest and resuscitation in rats

Abstract

In this study we investigated the effect of Dl-3- n -butylphthalide (NBP), a clinically used drug for stroke patients in China, on the recovery following cardiac arrest and resuscitation in rats. Male Wistar rats (3-month old) underwent cardiac arrest (12 min) and resuscitation. Rats were randomly assigned to the following groups: sham non-arrested group, vehicle group (vehicle-treated, 7 days before cardiac arrest and 4 days post-resuscitation), NBP pre-treated group (NBP-treated, 7 days before cardiac arrest), and NBP post-treated group (NBP-treated, 4 days postresuscitation). Overall survival rates and hippocampal neuronal counts were determined in each group at 4 days post-resuscitation. Results showed that NBP pre-treated group (80%) and NBP post-treated group (86%) had significantly higher survival rates compared to that of the vehicle group (50%). At 4 days of recovery, only about 20% of hippocampal neurons were preserved in the vehicle group compared to the sham non-arrested group. The hippocampal CA1 cell counts in the NBP pre-treated group and NBP post-treated group were significantly higher than the counts in the vehicle group, about 50–60% of the counts of non-arrested rats. The data suggest that NBP has both preventive and therapeutic effect on improving outcome following cardiac arrest and resuscitation, and NBP might be a potential early phase treatment for patients recovered from cardiac arrest and resuscitation.