[Experimental study on the difference of ischemic threshold between cerebral cortex and thalamus with middle latency...

Middle latency auditory evoked potentials (ML-AEPs) have not yet been established as a device of assessing neurological events because their origins have not been definitely identified. In this study, we assessed the neurological usefulness of MLA-EPs through experimental approach using canine models of acute ischemia localized within the cerebral cortex or thalamus. Two types of localized cerebral ischemia were produced in mongrel dogs by clipping of major cerebral arteries and inducing of hypotension; they were, unilateral cortical ischemia involving the right primary auditory area (group A) and unilateral thalamic ischemia involving the right medial geniculate body (group B). Using these two ischemia models, auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) were intracranially and extracranially recorded in addition to the measurement of local cerebral blood flow (1-CBF). Prior to the induction of ischemia, it was confirmed that positive waves with a latency of 20 ms (P20) were evoked in the bilateral primary auditory areas by sound stimulation (90 dB 5 Hz click) given to the ear contralateral to the planned ischemic side in both groups. The right P20 disappeared when the 1-CBF in the right primary auditory area decreased below the ischemic flow threshold of synaptic transmission failure, approximately 18 ml/100 g/min, in group A, and when the 1-CBF in the right medial geniculate body decreased below the threshold, 10 ml/100 g/min, in group B.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)