Effect of intrathecal verapamil on the anterior horn cells of adult albino rat's spinal cord: Experimental and microscopical study

In the present study, 15 adult albino rats were used and divided into three equal groups. The first group was considered a control group, while animals in the second group were injected with a single intrathecal dose of verapamil. Animals of the third group were injected with three successive doses of the drug. The results have shown no changes in either cell character or nuclear diameter after single dose of intrathecal verapamil. Also, no changes in nucleic acid contents were detected. Repeated intrathecal injections led to a decrease in the diameters of both the cell and its nuclei as well as nucleus/cytoplasmic ratio [N/C ratio]. The nucleic acid contents were still also not affected

Doppler technique for assessing utero placental haemodynamic changes during extradural anaesthesia for elective caesarean section with pre-eclampsia

Blood flow velocity wave forms were recorded in 2 sites in the fetal circulation in a series of 20 normal and 20 complicated pregnancies with mild and severe preeclampsia before and during cesarean section [CS] under extradural [epidural] anesthesia with plain bupivacaine 0.5% as a single bolus dose after a preload of one liter of Ringer's lactate. Abnormality of the wave form reflected a high resistance to flow and high values for S/D ratio due to decreased end diastolic velocity recorded in the studied group, which proved to be useful predictor for perinatal morbidity. A significant and highly significant decrease of S/D ratio values during extradural anesthesia in the mild and severe preeclamptic patients, respectively, was an important prognostic finding in pregnancies complicated with preeclampsia. After extradural block the mean maternal blood pressure fell significantly in mild preeclamptic patients with further significant decrease in severe preeclamptic cases, but no maternal hypotension was observed