Gabapentin reduces infarct volume but does not suppress peri-infarct depolarizations

Spreading depression (SD) is an intense depolarization wave implicated in brain injury. In focal ischemia, recurrent peri-infarct depolarization (PID) waves akin to SD worsen the ischemic injury by exacerbating the blood flow-metabolism mismatch. We recently showed that gabapentin suppresses SD. We, therefore, tested gabapentin on PIDs and stroke outcome. Gabapentin pretreatment (200 mg/kg, intravenously) reduced the infarct volume by 23% after transient focal ischemia in mice. However, the frequency and duration of PIDs were not suppressed when recorded for 2 hours during ischemia, suggesting that gabapentin reduces infarct volume independent of PID suppression. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism (2011) 31, 1578-1582; doi: 10.1038/jcbfm.2011.50; published online 20 April 2011