[Nitric oxide and carbon dioxide in neurotoxicity induced by oxygen under pressure]

Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) causes CO2 retention in the brain that leads to the increase in cerebral blood flow (CBF) by poorly understood mechanisms. We have tested the hypothesis that NO is implicated in CBF-responses to hypercapnia under hyperoxic conditions. Alert rats were exposed to HBO2 at 5 ata and blood flow in the striatum measured by H2 clearance every 10 min. Acetazolamide, the inhibitor of carbonic anhydrase, was used to increase brain PCO2. CBF responses to acetazolamide administration (30 mg/kg, i.p.) were assessed in rats breathing air at 1 ata or oxygen at 5 ata with and without NOS inhibition (L-NAME, 30 mg/kg, i.p.). In rats breathing air, acetazolamide increased CBF by 34 +/- 7.4% over 30 min and by 28 +/- 12% over 3 hours while NOS inhibition with L-NAME attenuated acetazolamide-induced cerebral vasodilatation. HBO2 at 5 ata reduced CBF during the first 30 min hyperoxia, after that CBF increased by 55 +/- 19% above pre-exposure levels. In acetazolamide-treated animals, no HBO, induced vasoconstricton was observed and striatal blood flow increased by 53 +/- 18% within 10 min of hyperbaric exposure. After NOS inhibition, cerebral vasodilatation in response to acetazolamide during HBO2 exposure was significantly attenuated. The study demonstrates that NO is implicated in acetazolamide (CO2)-induced cerebral hyperemia under hyperbaric oxygen exposure.