[Functioning of the cerebral circulatory system in rabbits during hyperthermia]

In chronic experiments on rabbits, the effect of hyperthermia growing up to 41 degrees C upon the cerebral circulation system, was studied. Cortical blood flow decreased by 20-25% due to hypercapnia and constriction of arterioles whereas the blood flow in the thalamus and hypothalamus either remained the same as initial one or increased insignificantly. The reactivity of cerebral vessels in CO2 inhalation and orthostatic load decreased along with the rise of body temperature. The signs of lesion of the hemato-encephalic barrier and an increase of the water content by 3-4% in the cortex and white matter were revealed in hyperthermia. The impedance data corroborated extracellular character of cerebral oedema. Comparative study of vasodilators euphylline, cavinton and flunaresine has revealed that the calcium blocking agent flunaresine provides the best restoration of the cerebral blood flow level and the reactivity of cerebral vessels in hyperthermia.