• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.54-58
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• 2005

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the time evolution and distribution of cerebral apoptosis using the middle cerebral artery occlusion model in rats. Methods: A total of twenty four male rats - with 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24 and 48 hours of middle cerebral artery occlusion respectively - were studied. The terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate-biotin nick-end labeling(TUNEL) method was used for the observation of the apoptotic cells. The apoptotic ratio was calculated and the distribution of apoptosis was inspected in the pyriform cortex, basal ganglia and middle cerebral artery territory cortex. The rats were divided into three groups(Group I : $2{\sim}4$ hours of occlusion, Group II : $6{\sim}$12 hours of occlusion, Group III : $24{\sim}48$ hours of occlusion). Results: In this study, the proportion of apoptosis increased with the duration of middle cerebral artery occlusion and reached a maximum after about 12 hours of middle cerebral artery occlusion. The mean values of the apoptotic ratio were $30.7{\pm}11.3%$ in group I, $60.8{\pm}2.6%$ in group II and $48.7{\pm}0.7%$ in group III. The distribution of apoptosis differed in the pyriform cortex, basal ganglia and middle cerebral artery territory cortex according to the duration of time of the middle cerebral artery occlusion. Conclusion: In the middle cerebral artery occlusion model of the rats, apoptosis is found to increase according to the occlusion time, reaching a peak after 6 hours, and the distribution of apoptosis changed from the pyriform cortex to the basal ganglia and middle cerebral artery territory cortex.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.160-166
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• 2000

The present study examined influence of various ischemic duration on extent of focal ischemic brain injury induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in rats. The MCAO was produced by insertion of a 17 mm silicone-coated 4-0 nylon surgical thread to the origin of MCA through the internal carotid artery for 30, 60, 90, 120 min (transient) or 24 hr (permanent) in male Sprague-Dawley rats under isoflurane anesthesia. Reperfusion in transient MCAO models was achieved by pulling the thread out of the internal carotid artery. Only rats showing neurological deficits characterized by left hemiparesis and/or circling to the left, were included in cerebral ischemic groups. The rats were sacrificed 24 hr after MCAO and seven serial coronal slices of the brain were stained with 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride. Infarct size was measured using a computerized image analyzer. Ischemic damage was common in the frontoparietal cortex (somatosensory area) and the lateral segment of the striatum while damage to the medial segment of the striatum depended on the duration of the occlusion. In the 30-min MCAO grouts, however, infarcted region was primarily confined to the striatum and it was difficult to clearly delineate the region since there was mixed population of live and dead cells in the nucleus. Infarct volume was generally increased depending on the duration of MCAO, showing the most severe damage in the permanent MCAO group. However, there was no significant difference in infarct size between the 90-min and 120-min MCAO groups. % Edema also tended to increase depending on the duration of MCAO. The results suggest that the various focal ischemic rat models established in the present study can be used to evaluate in vivo neuroprotective activities of candidate compounds or to elucidate pathophysiological mechanisms of ischemic neuronal cell death.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.319-328
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• 2024

Lysophosphatidic acid receptor 1 (LPA₁) plays a critical role in brain injury following a transient brain ischemic stroke. However, its role in permanent brain ischemic stroke remains unknown. To address this, we investigated whether LPA₁ could contribute to brain injury of mice challenged by permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (pMCAO). A selective LPA₁ antagonist (AM152) was used as a pharmacological tool for this investigation. When AM152 was given to pMCAO-challenged mice one hour after occlusion, pMCAO-induced brain damage such as brain infarction, functional neurological deficits, apoptosis, and blood-brain barrier disruption was significantly attenuated. Histological analyses demonstrated that AM152 administration attenuated microglial activation and proliferation in injured brain after pMCAO challenge. AM152 administration also attenuated abnormal neuroinflammatory responses by decreasing expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines while increasing expression levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines in the injured brain. As underlying effector pathways, NF-κB, MAPKs (ERK1/2, p38, and JNKs), and PI3K/Akt were found to be involved in LPA₁-dependent pathogenesis. Collectively, these results demonstrate that LPA₁ can contribute to brain injury by permanent ischemic stroke, along with relevant pathogenic events in an injured brain.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 1995

To predict preoperatively the safety of permanent occlusion of an internal carotid artery with $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO brain single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT) from an objective point of view, Twenty-four patients underwent balloon test occlusion (BTO) of the internal carotid arteries because of neck and skull base tumors. The authors assessed the uptake of both middle cerebral artery territories before and during BTO with $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO brain SPECT using semiquantitative analysis method and compared the results with other factors(neurologic examination, arterial stump pressure and electroenceph-alogram). Nineteen patients had not experienced neurological deteriorating or any problem during BTO. Their comparative uptakes of the middle cerebral artery territories were 95 to 101% of the pre-BTO state. The remaining five patients showed severe neurologic symptoms such as transient hemiplegia and unconsciousness. Their comparative uptake of the middle cerebral artery territories were 77 to 85% of the pre-BTO state, and were well matched with other factors. $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO brain SPECT before and during BTO seems to be a simple and objective method for prediction of permanent neurologic deficits when the comparative uptake of middle cerebral artery territories during BTO is lower than 85% of that before BTO.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.306-313
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• 2007

Objective : In permanent distal middle cerebral artery occlusion [pdMCAO] model of rats, the temporal order of subcellular translocation is not fully understood yet. We studied translocation sequence of cytochrome c and apoptosis inducing factor [AIF] after pdMCAO and patterns of expression. Methods : Twenty-one male rats - with ten minutes, 1, 4, 8, 24 and 48 hours of pdMCAO groups - were enrolled. At core and penumbra area of each cerebral cortex, Western blotting of cytochrome c and AIF were performed using cytosolic fractions and then compared with sham specimens. With 48 hours group, the expression of cytochrome c and AIF was examined with immunofluorescent staining. Results : Compared to sham, the cytosolic translocation of cytochrome c significantly increased at all time points [p<0.05]. As early as 10 min after onset of ischemia, it was increased significantly [p<0.01]. The cytosolic translocation of AIF showed gradual increase with the passage of time and significantly increased 8 hours after [p<0.05]. As late as 24 hours and 48 hours after onset of ischemia, there were increased most significantly [p<0.01]. At penumbra, both proteins failed to show significant increase at all time points. At 48 hours after ischemia, colocalization of cytochrome c and AIF were confirmed. Conclusion : Cytosolic translocation of cytochrome c peaks much earlier than that of AIF in pdMCAO model of rat. Caspase dependent apoptosis activates soon after ischemia and later, it can be reinforced by gradually increasing AIF in ischemic core.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.85-88
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• 2007

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) can degrade a wide range of extracellular matrix components. It has been reported that MMP-9 are activated after focal ischemia in experimental animals. (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a major constituent of green tea polyphenols, is a potent free radical scavenger and reduces the neuronal damage caused by oxygen free radicals. And it has been known that EGCG could reduce the infarction volume in focal brain ischemia and inhibit MMP-9 activity. To delineate the relationship between the anti-ischemic action and the MMP-9-inhibiting action of EGCG, we investigated the effect of EGCG on brain infarction and the activity of matrix metalloproteinase-9 induced by permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (pMCAO) in ICR mice. EGCG (40 mg/kg, i.p. $15{\sim}30min$ prior to MCAO) significantly decreased infarction volume at 24 hr after MCAO. GM 6001 (50 mg/kg, i.p. $15{\sim}30min$ prior to MCAO), a MMP inhibitor, also significantly reduced infarction volume. In zymogram, MMP-9 activities began to increase at ipsilateral cortex at 2 hr after MCAO, and the increments of MMP-9 activities were attenuated by EGCG treatment. Western blot for MMP-9 also showed patterns similar to that of zymogram. These findings demonstrate that the anti-ischemic action of EGCG ire mouse focal cerebral ischemia involves its inhibitory effect on MMP-9.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2002

Objectives: Uncariae Ramulus Et Uncus extract is clinically used in Korea to treat ischemic cerebral damage. The present study was undertaken to study the neuroprotective effect of Uncariae Ramulus Et Uncus extract in middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) rats. Methods: Changes of extracellular levels of dopamine, DOPAC, HVA. and HIAA in striatum were collected at 20 minutes interval by in vivo microdialysis and then analyzed by HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) in rats subjected to permanent focal cerebral ischemia induced by 2 hours of MCAO. Uncariae Ramulus Et Uncus extract was orally administrated before MCAO. Different animals were used for measurement of cerebral infarction volume induced by 24 hours of MCAO with TIC staining and image analysis. Results: Extracellular levels of dopamine decreased after treatment with Uncariae Ramulus Et Uncus extract, while extracellular levels of DOPAC and HVA significantly increased. Cerebral infarction volume also significantly decreased after treatment with Uncariae Ramulus Et Uncus extract. Conclusions: These results provided evidence that Uncariae Ramulus Et Uncus extract can produce a neuroprotective effect on cerebral ischemia by regulating extracellular excitatory neurotransmitters.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.11-19
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• 2000

The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of Woowhangcheongshim-won(WCW) on the extracellular concentrations of amino acid neurotransmitters(glutamate, aspartate, GABA, glycine, taurine, alanine, and tyrosine) and organic acid (lactate and pyruvate) in striatum and cerebral infarction volume in rats subjected to permanent focal cerebral ischemia induced by 2 hours of middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO), using intracerebral microdialysis as the sampling technique, Microdialysis probes were inserted into the lateral part of the caudate-putamen 2 hours before the experiment and microdialyzates were collected at 20min intervals and analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography, WCW significantly decreased the infarction volume with reducing focal cerebral ischemia-induced increase of extracellular glutamate, asparate, and tyrosine. On the other hand, the increase of GABA and taurine was enhanced after treatment of WCW in the ischemia-induced rats, These results suggest that WCW can produce a neuroprotective effect against cerebral ischemia by regulating extracellular excitatory and inhibitory amino acid levels in relation to the concept of excitotoxicity in brain ischemia.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.62-69
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• 2014

Background: Neuromodulation therapy has been used to an adjunctive treatment promoting motor recovery in stroke patients. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on neurobehavioral recovery and evoked potentials in rats with middle cerebral artery occlusion. Methods: Seventy Sprague-Daley rats were induced permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) stroke model and successful stroke rats (n=56) assigned to the rTMS (n=28) and sham (n=28) group. The 10 Hz, high frequency rTMS gave on ipsilesional forepaw motor cortex during 2 weeks in rTMS group. The somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP) and motor evoked potential (MEP) were used to evaluate the electrophysiological changes. Behavioral function of the stroke rat was evaluated by the Rota rod and Garcia test. Results: Forty rats ($N_{rTMS}=20;\;N_{sham}=20$) completed all experimental course. The rTMS group showed better performance than sham group in Rota rod test and Garcia test at day 11 (p<0.05) but not day 18 (p>0.05). The amplitude of MEP and SSEP in rTMS group was larger than sham group at day 18 (p<0.05). Conclusions: These data confirm that the high frequency rTMS on ipsilesional cerebral motor cortex can help the early recovery of motor performance in permanent middle cerebral artery stroke model and it may simultaneously associate with changes in neurophysiological activity in brain.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.64-75
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• 2009

Objective: This study was designed to investigate the effect of Samultang (SMT) under hippocampus cells ischemia both in vitro and in vivo. Methods: In the in vitro study, HT22 cells, predominantly detected in the cytoplasm, which coincides with the location of the mitochondria, were used as indicators. In the in vivo study, permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was induced on rats. SMT was given orally 2 h before induction of permanent focal brain ischemic injury. Result: In the in vitro study, SMT had protective effects in glutamate-induced cytotoxicity, which was revealed as apoptosis characterized by chromatic condensation and the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential in HT22 cells. In the in vivo study, TTC (2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride) staining showed a marked ischemic injury in blood supply territory of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) such as the cerebral cortex and striatum. However, treatment with SMT significantly reduced infarcted volume. SMT increased marked survival of HT22 cells against glutamate-induced cytotoxicity in MTT assay. Conclusion: These results suggest that water extract of SMT provides neuroprotection against ischemic or oxidative injury by inhibition of apoptotic cell death.