The effects of a new acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, ENA-713, on ischemia-induced changes in acetylcholine, monoamines, and their metabolites, were studied in the gerbil. ENA-713 (0.2 mg/kg) or saline was administered intraperitoneally to gerbils 30 min before induction of cerebral ischemia by bilateral carotid occlusion. Pretreatment with ENA-713 mitigated the ischemia-induced abnormalities of the cholinergic, dopaminergic and serotoninergic systems in the gerbil brain, although it had virtually no effect on acetylcholine, monoamines, or their metabolites in any region of the normal gerbil brain. These findings suggest that ENA-713 has beneficial effects against ischemia-induced cerebral disorders. Thus, ENA-713 seems to be promising as a preventive or therapeutic agent for cerebrovascular dementia due to cerebral ischemia and might be useful for the treatment of Alzheimer-type dementia which is associated with multiple neurotransmitter abnormalities in the brain.