title: Effectiveness of a new modified intraluminal suture for temporary middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats of various weight.
abstract: Intraluminal temporary middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) is a common model of ischemic stroke in the rat with significant, suture and weight-dependent variability along with increased risk of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). Our purpose was to increase reproducibility and decrease SAH using a modification of the Koizumi suture. We compared a Koizumi 5/0 Ethilon poly-l-lysine-coated suture (s-2, group B) to an identical, uncoated one (s-1, group A) and the Belayev's 3/0 suture (s-3, group C), in the 2-h MCAO model in Wistar rats of varying weight (310-527 g). Assessment included successful infarction rates, the modified neurological stroke scale (mNSS), a modified Bederson's scale (mBS), the grid-walking test (GWT), infarction volume (with rostrocaudal subanalysis and analysis of cortical/striatal involvement) and hemispheric edema. The s-2 suture increased the successful MCAO from 61.1% and 66.6% (groups A and C) to 97.5% in group B and induced a more severe clinical stroke (P<0.05) irrespective of animal's weight, with no incidence of SAH. Infarction volume and ipsilateral hemispheric edema significantly (P<0.05) increased and well correlated with the mNSS (P<or=0.005), the mBS (P<or=0.01) and GWT outcomes. Our data suggest that the new modified suture induces a more reproducible ischemic stroke in Wistar rats for temporary-MCAO experiments, overcoming the variability of weight and the risk of SAH.
authors.affiliation: B' Department of Neurology, Laboratory of Experimental Neurology and Neuroimmunology, AHEPA University Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lourbopoulos
authors.forename: Dimitris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Karacostas
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Artemis
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Milonas
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Grigoriadis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D001929:Brain Edema / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D020520:Brain Infarction / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D020768:Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D013536:Suture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D013537:Sutures / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods