The effects of chlorpromazine and phenobarbital on vasculogenesis in the cerebellar cortex

The morphological effects of two chemically different neuroactive drugs (chlorpromazine and phenobarbital) on vasculogenesis in rat cerebellum were examined to determine the presence of vascular alterations. Therapeutic dosages of both drugs were chronically administered to separate groups of maternal rats beginning on days 10, 13, 15, 18, and 21. In chlorpromazine-treated animals the specific length of blood vessels was most severely reduced in the Purkinje cell layer. Animals treated with phenobarbital demonstrated an initial reduction in specific length in the Purkinje cell layer but returned to control values by day 21 postnatal (p.n.). Blood vessels in the molecular and granular layers showed little change. The observed changes have been discussed in relation to possible mechanisms and their relationship to neurogenesis.