J. S. Coselli, S. A. Lemaire, L. P. De-figueiredo, and R. P. Kirby, Paraplegia after thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair: is dissection a risk factor, Ann Thorac Surg, vol.63, pp.28-36, 1997.

H. J. Safi, A. Winnerkvist, C. C. Miller, . Iii, D. C. Iliopoulos et al., Effect of extended cross-clamp time during thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair, Ann Thorac Surg, vol.66, pp.1204-1213, 1998.

L. Lang-lazdunski, C. Heurteaux, N. Vaillant, C. Widmann, and M. Lazdunski, Riluzole prevents ischemic spinal cord injury caused by aortic crossclamping, J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg, vol.117, pp.881-890, 1999.

L. Lang-lazdunski and J. Bachet, Pharmacological spinal cord protection with magnesium during replacement of the thoracic and thoracoabdominal aorta, Ann Thorac Surg, vol.72, pp.2180-2181, 2001.

I. Lauritzen, N. Blondeau, C. Heurteaux, C. Widmann, G. Romey et al., Polyunsaturated fatty acids are potent neuroprotectors, EMBO J, vol.19, pp.1784-93, 2000.

A. Leaf, J. X. Kang, Y. Xiao, G. E. Billman, and R. A. Voskuyl, The antiarrhythmic and anticonvulsant effects of dietary N-3 fatty acids, J Membrane Biol, vol.172, pp.1-11, 1999.

D. R. Lemay, S. Neal, G. B. Zelenock, D. 'alecy, and L. G. , Paraplegia in the rat induced by aortic cross-clamping: model characterization and glucose exacerbation of neurologic deficit, J Vasc Surg, vol.6, pp.383-90, 1987.

B. Rexed, The cytoarchitectonic organization of the spinal cord in the cat, J Comp Neurol, vol.95, pp.415-95, 1952.

Y. Gavrieli, Y. Sherman, and S. A. Ben-sason, Identification of programmed cell death in situ via specific labeling of nuclear DNA fragmentation, J Cell Biol, vol.11, pp.493-501, 1992.

L. Lang-lazdunski, C. Heurteaux, M. A. Mantz, J. Widmann, C. Desmonts et al., Ischemic spinal cord injury induced by aortic cross-clamping: prevention by riluzole, Eur J Cardiothorac Surg, vol.18, pp.174-81, 2000.

G. K. Kanellopoulos, H. Kato, C. Y. Hsu, and N. T. Kouchoukos, Spinal cord ischemic injury: development of a new model in the rat, Stroke, vol.28, pp.2532-2540, 1997.

S. Gelman, The pathophysiology of aortic cross-clamping and unclamping, Anesthesiology, vol.82, pp.1026-60, 1995.

J. K. Relton, P. J. Strijbos, A. L. Cooper, and N. J. Rothwell, Dietary N-3 fatty acids inhibit ischaemic and excitotoxic brain damage in the rat, Brain Res Bull, vol.32, pp.223-229, 1993.

E. Bonfoco, D. Krainc, M. Ankarcrona, P. Nicotera, and S. A. Lipton, Apoptosis and necrosis: two distinct events induced, respectively, by mild and intense insults with N-methyl-D-aspartate or nitric oxide/superoxide in cortical cell cultures, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, vol.92, pp.7162-7168, 1995.

K. Matsushita, Y. Wu, J. Qiu, L. Lang-lazdunski, L. Hirt et al., Fas receptor and neuronal cell death after spinal cord ischemia, J Neurosci, vol.20, pp.6879-87, 2000.

J. Chen, R. L. Zhu, M. Nakayama, K. Kawaguchi, J. K. Stetler et al., Expression of the apoptosis-effector gene, Bax, is up-regulated in vulnerable hippocampal CA1 neurons following global ischemia, J Neurochem, vol.67, pp.64-71, 1996.

G. Cao, M. Minami, P. W. Yan, C. Chen, D. O'horo et al., Intracellular Bax translocation after transient cerebral ischemia: implications for a role of the mitochondrial apoptotic signaling pathway in ischemic neuronal death, J Cereb Blood Flow Metab, vol.21, pp.321-354, 2001.

M. P. Mattson, C. Culmsee, Z. Yu, and S. Camandola, Roles of nuclear factor kappaB in neuronal survival and plasticity, J Neurochem, vol.74, pp.443-56, 2000.

N. Blondeau, C. Widmann, M. Lazdunski, and C. Heurteaux, Activation of the nuclear factor-B is a key event in brain tolerance, J Neurosci, vol.21, pp.4668-77, 2001.

J. A. Clemens, D. T. Stephenson, E. B. Smalstig, E. P. Dixon, and S. P. Little, Global ischemia activates nuclear factor-kappa B in forebrain neurons of rats, Stroke, vol.28, pp.1073-81, 1997.

S. Zhang, T. Tobaru, J. A. Zivin, and D. A. Shackelford, Activation of nuclear factor-kappaB in the rabbit spinal cord following ischemia and reperfusion, Brain Res Mol Brain Res, vol.63, pp.121-153, 1998.

J. R. Bethea, M. Castro, R. W. Keane, T. T. Lee, W. D. Dietrich et al., Traumatic spinal cord injury induces nuclear factor-kappaB activation, J Neurosci, vol.18, pp.3251-60, 1998.

W. J. Welch, Mammalian stress response: cell physiology, structure/ function of stress proteins, and implications for medicine and disease, Physiol Rev, vol.72, pp.1063-81, 1992.

M. Sakurai, T. Hayashi, K. Abe, M. Aoki, M. Sadahiro et al., Enhancement of heat shock protein expression after transient ischemia in the preconditioned spinal cord of rabbits, J Vasc Surg, vol.27, pp.720-725, 1998.

M. Matsumoto, K. Ohtake, H. Wakamatsu, S. Oka, T. Kiyoshima et al., The time course of acquisition of ischemic tolerance and induction of heat shock protein 70 after a brief period of ischemia in the spinal cord in rabbits, Anesth Analg, vol.92, pp.418-441, 2001.

M. Vreugdenhil, C. Bruehl, R. A. Voskuyl, J. X. Kang, A. Leaf et al., Polyunsaturated fatty acids modulate sodium and calcium currents in CA1 neurons, Proc Natl Acad Sci, vol.93, pp.12559-63, 1996.

M. Fink, F. Duprat, F. Lesage, R. Reyes, G. Romey et al., Cloning, functional expression and brain localisation of a novel unconventional outward rectifier K ? channel, EMBO J, vol.15, pp.6854-62, 1996.

M. Fink, F. Lesage, F. Duprat, C. Heurteaux, R. Reyes et al., A neuronal two P domain K ? channel stimulated by arachidonic acid and polyunsaturated fatty acid, EMBO J, vol.17, pp.3297-3308, 1998.

R. Reyes, I. Lauritzen, F. Lesage, M. Ettaiche, M. Fosset et al., Immunolocalization of the arachidonic-acid and mechano-sensitive baseline TRAAK potassium channel in the nervous system, Neuroscience, vol.95, pp.893-901, 2000.

F. Lesage and M. Lazdunski, Molecular and functional properties of two pore domain potassium channels, Am J Physiol, vol.279, pp.793-801, 2000.

A. J. Patel and E. Honore, Properties and modulation of mammalian 2P domain K ? channels, Trends Neurosci, vol.24, pp.339-385, 2001.

P. Ascher and L. Nowak, The role of divalent cations in the N-methyl-Daspartate responses of mouse central neurones in culture, J Physiol, vol.399, pp.247-66, 1988.

F. Duprat, F. Lesage, A. J. Patel, M. Fink, G. Romey et al., The neuroprotective agent riluzole activates the two P-domain K ? channels TREK-1 and TRAAK, Mol Pharmacol, vol.57, pp.906-918, 2000.