Vinpocetine (VP) is a selective inhibitor of Ca++calmodulin-dependent cGMP phosphodiesterase (PDE). It is assumed that this inhibition enhanc¬es intracellular cGMP levels in vascular smooth muscles leading to re¬duced resistance of cerebral blood. This in turn, will lead to neuroprotec-tion in transient ischemic attacks (TLAs).
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of VP on some peripheral mcnoamines in human namely, serum norepinephrine (NE) and blood serotonin (5HT). Moreover, cortical NE. 5-HT and dopa-mine (DA) were investigated in the cortex of brain rat subjected to experi¬mental transient ischemia induced by carotid artery occlusion.
Regarding the clinical part, it was carried out on forty (40) individuals. Ten (10) of them were volunteers , above 40 years old, both sexes and of good health as controls. The other thirtij (30) were outpatients from Benha university hospitals, both sexes (22 males and 8 females), aged from 40-60 years (mean 51±1.1) and were suffering from TLAs. They entered the study according to definite inclusive and exclusive criteria, and divided into 2 groups each of them was 15 patients. The first group did net take medications (Non-Vinpocetine Treated Group), and the other group treated with VP (5mg td.s) for 2 months. Results of this part revealed significant elevation (P