Experimental cerebral infarction in Mongolian gerbils: effects of vincamine on lesion size, survival and behavior

Vincamine was administered to gerbils at doses of 0, 1, 2, 10 and 40 mg/kg/d to study its effect on survival, extent of ischemic brain lesion, locomotor activity, neurologic signs, stool production, and food and water intake after unilateral carotid occlusion. Drug and placebo were delivered by implantation of osmotic minipumps. The three most important criteria, increase in survival, reduction in cerebral lesion in survivors, and functional recovery of locomotor activity were all significantly improved by vincamine treatment at all doses. Since the lowest dose produced as much improvement as the higher doses it was concluded that increasing dose beyond 1 mg/kg/d was not beneficial using the measures reported here.