Dexamethasone changes brain monoamine metabolism and aggravates ischemic neuronal damage in rats

Glucocorticoids have been reported to aggravate ischemic brain damage. Because changes in the activities of various neuronal systems are closely related to the outcome of ischemic damage, the authors evaluated the effects of dexamethasone on the monoaminergic systems and ischemic neuronal damage.

The right middle cerebral artery was occluded for 2 h, and the tissue concentrations of monoamines and their metabolites were determined in the cerebral cortex and the striatum of rats. The turnover of 5-hydroxytryptamine was compared in animals injected with saline and those injected with dexamethasone twice (2 mg/kg in each injection) by evaluating the probenecid-induced accumulation of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid. The turnovers of norepinephrine and dopamine were estimated from the alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine-induced depletion of norepinephrine and dopamine, respectively. The effect of dexamethasone on the infarct volume was evaluated by triphenyltetrazolium chloride stain in rats subjected to 2 h of occlusion.

Dexamethasone did not affect the cortical 5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid contents. However, it suppressed the turnover of the cortical 5-hydroxytryptamine on both sides. Dexamethasone reduced the turnover of the striatal 5-hydroxytryptamine and facilitated the dopamine turnover. In rats subjected to 2 h of occlusion and 2 h of reperfusion, the infarct volume was 10.5 times greater in the group that received dexamethasone than in the animals that received saline.

Dexamethasone suppresses the inhibitory serotonergic system and facilitates the excitatory dopaminergic system in the rat telencephalon. This may be a mechanism by which dexamethasone aggravates ischemic neuronal injury.