Opiate-antagonist reversal of neurological deficits--experimental and clinical studies.

The proximal left M1 and the common trunk of A2 were clipped in 12 adult dogs. Naloxone was injected after placing the clips onto 6 dogs. Neither the systemic blood pressure nor the local cerebral blood flow were influenced by naloxone. In another group of 6 dogs with chronic right hemiplegia, naloxone proved passably effective in improving the hemiplegia. Eight patients with neurological deficits of various etiologies were administered levallorphan. The improvement in motor performance and/or elevation of mental activity was observed more or less in all but 2 of the patients. It was considered that the effect of opiate antagonists is based partially on the facilitation of synaptic transmission exaggerated by the arousal response.