title: Remote ischemic post-conditioning reduced brain damage in experimental ischemia/reperfusion injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the protective effects of remote post-conditioning on ischemic brain lesions caused by middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion in rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 54 animals were used in this present study. An ischemic stroke model was generated by 90-minute occlusion of right MCA (n = 42). Twelve rats were used as control for studying edema and blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity. Remote post-conditioning was conducted immediately after MCA occlusion in the bilateral lower limb by occluding and releasing the femoral artery for three cycles; each occlusion and release lasted for 10 minutes. After 24 hours of reperfusion, the cerebral infarct volumes were quantified by 2,3,4-triphenytetrazolium-chloride, brain water content was determined by dry/wet weight method, and damage to the BBB was determined by Evans blue extravasation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Remote post-conditioning significantly reduced brain infarct damage (P<0.0001). Brain edema was significantly (P<0.01) reduced after stroke in the remote post-conditioning group. BBB leakage was significantly reduced in the remote post-conditioning group when compared to the control ischemic groups (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results provide evidence that remote post-conditioning, which was initiated after ischemia and before reperfusion, protects against brain injury in experimental ischemic stroke.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hypoxia Medicine, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Changhong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Mingqing
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dornbos
authors.forename: Yuchuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Xianwei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Yumin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Xunming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ji
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier / Q000502:physiology; D001929:Brain Edema / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D019194:Ischemic Preconditioning / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*