title: Performing Permanent Distal Middle Cerebral with Common Carotid Artery Occlusion in Aged Rats to Study Cortical Ischemia with Sustained Disability.
abstract: Stroke typically occurs in elderly people with a range of comorbidities including carotid (or other arterial) atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. Accordingly, when evaluating therapies for stroke in animals, it is important to select a model with excellent face validity. Ischemic stroke accounts for 80% of all strokes, and the majority of these occur in the territory of the middle cerebral artery (MCA), often inducing infarcts that affect the sensorimotor cortex, causing persistent plegia or paresis on the contralateral side of the body. We demonstrate in this video a method for producing ischemic stroke in elderly rats, which causes sustained sensorimotor disability and substantial cortical infarcts. Specifically, we induce permanent distal middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in elderly female rats by using diathermy forceps to occlude a short segment of this artery. The carotid artery on the ipsilateral side to the lesion was then permanently occluded and the contralateral carotid artery was transiently occluded for 60 min. We measure the infarct size using structural T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 24 hr and 8 weeks after stroke. In this study, the mean infarct volume was 4.5% ± 2.0% (standard deviation) of the ipsilateral hemisphere at 24 hr (corrected for brain swelling using Gerriet's equation, n = 5). This model is feasible and clinically relevant as it permits the induction of sustained sensorimotor deficits, which is important for the elucidation of pathophysiological mechanisms and novel treatments.
authors.affiliation: Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King's College London, University of London; Department of Neuroimaging, James Black Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, University of London.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wayman
authors.affiliation: Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King's College London, University of London; Department of Neuroimaging, James Black Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, University of London.
authors.forename: Denise A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Duricki
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, Wellcome Surgical Institute, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow.
authors.forename: Lisa A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.affiliation: Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King's College London, University of London.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Haenzi
authors.affiliation: Research Service, Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital.
authors.forename: Shi-Yen
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Research Service, Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital; Neurology Service, Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital; Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Neuroscience Research Institute, Loyola University Chicago.
authors.forename: Gwendolyn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kartje
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The Gray Institute for Radiation, Oncology and Biology, University of Oxford.
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Beech
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroimaging, James Black Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, University of London.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cash
authors.affiliation: Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King's College London, University of London; lawrence.moon@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Lawrence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D051381:Rats; D020521:Stroke / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*