Effects of psychotropic drugs on somatosensory evoked potentials in cerebral ischemia

Several authors have demonstrated a correlation between short latency somatosensory evoked potentials (short latency SEPs) and cerebral blood flow (CBF). It is also known that ischemia may modify the amplitude of the cortical SEP while its latency is less sensitive to CBF fluctuations. Phychotropic drugs--Oxiracetam, SAMe, Naloxone, L-acetylcarnitine and GM1--affect some parameters of the early components of cortical SEPs, chiefly the amplitude, which makes SEP recording a useful method for monitoring pharmacological activity in acute stroke.