Effects of piracetam on brain development in newborn rats exposed to hypoxia

Perinatal hypoxia is one of the main causes of disturbances of the function of the CNS during childhood. In this study the protective effect of the nootropic drug piracetam (oxo-2-pyrrolidinyl-1)-2-acetamide was tested. One-day-old Wistar rats were exposed together with their mothers to hypoxia up to the 10th day of life (11 h daily, pO2 = 9.86 kPa). On the 11th day a 48% decrease of body weight and a 30% decrease of brain weight was found in the hypoxic animals. The protein/DNA ratio and the AChE activity in the brain cortex were decreased indicating retarded brain development. Piracetam (daily 100 mg/kg, s. c., before hypoxic exposure) did not affect the mortality rate, the somatic development of the animals, or the estimated basic neurochemical markers in the cortex of the brain. At the age of 3 months the fractional efflux rate (FER) of dopamine (DA) evoked chemically or electrically as a characteristic functional feature of chemical synaptic transmission, was examined. It was found that postnatal hypoxia induces a long lasting increase of FER of DA of striatum slices. Animals exposed postnatally to hypoxia and treated with piracetam showed an increased FER of DA (potassium as stimulus) by comparison with those animals also exposed postnatally to hypoxia but left untreated with piracetam.