Under physiologic conditions, brain intracellular pH (pH i ) is maintained at 7.03. Rebound brain intracellular alkalosis has been observed in experimental models and adult stroke after hypoxia/ ischemia (HI). In term infants with neonatal encephalopathy (NE), an association exists between the magnitude of brain alkalosis and neurodevelopmental outcome, and there is increasing evidence to suggest that alkalosis may be deleterious to cell survival. Activation of the Na ϩ /H ϩ exchanger (NHE) is thought to be responsible for the rapid normalization of pH i and rebound alkalosis after reperfusion. We hypothesized that N-methyl-isobutyl-amiloride (MIA), an inhibitor of the NHE, would reduce brain injury in a model of neonatal HI. Seven-day-old mice underwent left carotid artery occlusion followed by exposure to 8% oxygen for 30 min (moderate insult) or 1 h (severe insult). Animals received MIA or saline 8 hourly starting 30 min before HI. Outcome was determined at 48 h by measuring viable tissue in the injured hemisphere (severe insult) or injury score and TUNEL staining (moderate insult). After the severe insult, MIA had a significant neuroprotective effect increasing forebrain tissue survival from 44% to 67%. After the moderate insult, damage was localized to the hippocampus where treatment resulted in a significant reduction in injury score and in TUNEL-positive cells. MIA was also shown to have a significant overall neuroprotective effect based on injury score after the moderate insult. Amiloride analogues are neuroprotective when commenced before HI in a mouse model. P erinatal HI affects approximately one to two per 1000 term infants per year in the United Kingdom and leads to death or severe impairment in more than 750 infants annually (1) Over the past 20 y, studies using phosphorus ( 31 P) and ( 1 H) proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in both infants with NE (2-4) and experimental models (5,6) have characterized the biphasic disruption of cerebral energetics that occurs in the hours after HI. These observations have led to the concept of a "therapeutic window" after HI, during which intervention may ameliorate the severity of brain injury. Recent results from the first randomized trials of mild hypothermia in term infants with NE are promising (7-9); however, considerable work is still required to optimize cooling strategies in the newborn. Furthermore, there is a growing impression that optimum neuroprotection may involve the use of more than one therapy, targeting different parts of the neurotoxic cascade.Under physiologic conditions, brain pH i is maintained at approximately 7.03; the NHE tightly regulates both pH i and cell volume by extruding protons from and taking sodium up into cells (10). A remarkable observation from the studies employing 31 P MRS in infants with NE was that during the secondary phase of energy decline occurring from 8 to 24 h after birth, brain pH i was not acidic but alkaline (pH i 7.1-7.4) (11). Some evidence suggests that excessive activation of the NHE aft...