We examined the impact of pre-treatment with the calcium antagonist flunarizine on the development of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in the immature rat. Unilateral carotid artery ligation and subsequent exposure to 2 hours of 8% oxygen in 7-day-old rats was used as a model for perinatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. This procedure leads to atrophy in the cerebral hemisphere ipsilateral to ca...

The calcium antagonist flunarizine suppresses pathologic accumulation of calcium intracellularly without affecting the fast sodium or the slow calcium channel. To establish its value in differentiating between mechanisms of arrhythmias in the canine heart, the effect of flunarizine was investigated on ventricular tachycardia (VT) induced by ouabain intoxication or occurring 16-24 hours after oc...

We produced unilateral photochemical infarcts in the hindlimb sensorimotor neocortex of 186 rats by intravenous injection of the fluorescein derivative rose bengal and focal illumination of the intact skull surface. Infarcted rats showed specific, long-lasting deficits in tactile and proprioceptive placing reactions of the contralateral limbs, mostly the hindlimb. Placing deficits were most pro...

Thromboembolic brain ischemia was produced in dogs using an autologous blood clot model. The effect of postembolic treatment with flunarizine and streptokinase on hemispheric cerebral metabolic rate for oxygen (CMRO2), oxygen extraction ratio (OER), and cerebral blood flow (CBF) was studied by positron emission tomography (oxygen-15 technique) 24 hours after the insult. We studied five groups o...

Flunarizine is a non selective calcium channel antagonist. It is highly lipophilic compound which distributes preferentially in adipose tissue and passes the blood brain barrier readily. Numerous preclinical and controlled clinical studies, including double blind clinical studies in which the drug was compared with placebo or standard drugs in particular disease showing efficacy in migraine, ve...

BACKGROUND Drug-Induced Parkinsonism (DIP) represents the second leading cause of Parkinsonism (PK) in several countries. Flunarizine and cinnarizine are some of the most common drugs that cause DIP. This paper reviews the first description of Flunarizine and Cinnarizine-Induced Parkinsonism (FCIP), as well as the subsequent literature, emphasizing epidemiological, clinical and diagnostic aspec...

A simple, precise, accurate, and rapid high-performance thin layer chromatographic method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous quantitation of flunarizine dihydrochloride and propranolol hydrochloride in a combined capsule dosage form. The method was carried out on precoated silica gel 60 F254 TLC aluminum plate, (20×10 cm(2)). The solvent system was ethyl acetate:methanol:glac...

This study was aimed to evaluate the role of flunarizine on gentamicin (GEM) induced nephrotoxicity in rat. Administration of GEM (40 mg/kg, s.c. for 10 consecutive days) significantly increased blood urea nitrogen (BUN), N-acetyl β-d-glucosaminidase (NAG), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and total calcium whereas, decreased body weight, fractional excretion of sodium (FrNa), cr...

Flunarizine hydrochloride, a piperazine derivative, is a selective Ca channel blocker coupled with its antihistaminic property claimed to be effective in prophylaxis of migraine. Oral bioavailability of Flunarizine hydrochloride is very low (less then 18%) due to poor water solubility and extensive first pass metabolism. Hence the aim of the present study was to develop Flunaruzine hydrochlorid...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE This study was designed to determine whether flunarizine enhances the rate of brain recovery as measured by electroencephalography after cerebral ischemia and whether these effects are attributable to changes in brain temperature. METHODS Male gerbils (n = 81) were treated with either 10 mg/kg flunarizine or its vehicle, beta-cyclodextrin, intraperitoneally, 60 minutes ...