[Effect of pharmacologic preparations on the electrical activity of cerebellar slices under hypoxia]

The effects of some antihypoxants (piracetam, GABA, sodium hydroxybutyrate and gutimine) on the electrical activity of the cerebellar neurons (Purkinje cells) of rats and mice were studied in the surviving slices under normoxia and increasing hypoxia. All the agents were found to produce phase changes in the base-line electrical activity of neurons: alternation of hyperexcitation and inhibition. Under hypoxia GABA and sodium hydroxybutyrate exerted the direct protective action on neuron metabolism supporting its electrogenic function. In the in vitro conditions in contrast to in situ conditions gutimine was shown to behave as a prohypoxant. The possibility of using the brain slices as the test system to study the mechanisms of action of the agents and the prognostic criterion during selection of prohypoxants is discussed.