Experimental intracerebral haemorrhage: the effect of nimodipine pretreatment.

The effect of pretreatment with the calcium antagonist nimodipine on the pathophysiological events which follow an intracerebral haemorrhage in rats was compared with a similar control group. Cerebral blood flow was higher and the amount of pathologically determined ischaemic damage measured by light microscopy was less in the nimodipine pretreated group. Bloodbrain barrier permeability was increased in the nimodipine group, but there was no evidence of cerebral oedema. Nimodipine appeared to have no effect on the intracranial pressure.