title: Extracerebral Tissue Damage in the Intraluminal Filament Mouse Model of Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion.
abstract: Middle cerebral artery occlusion is the most common model of focal cerebral ischemia in the mouse. In the surgical procedure, the external carotid artery (ECA) is ligated; however, its effect on the tissue supplied by the vessel has not been described so far. C57BL/6 mice underwent 1 h of transient MCAO (tMCAO) or sham surgery. Multi-spectral optoacoustic tomography was employed at 30 min after surgery to assess oxygenation in the temporal muscles. Microstructural changes were assessed with magnetic resonance imaging and histological examination at 24 h and 48 h after surgery. Ligation of the ECA resulted in decreased oxygenation of the left temporal muscle in most sham-operated and tMCAO animals. Susceptible mice of both groups exhibited increasedT2relaxation times in the affected muscle with histological evidence of myofibre degeneration, interstitial edema, and neutrophil influx. Ligatures had induced an extensive neutrophil-dominated inflammatory response. ECA ligation leads to distinct hypoxic degenerative changes in the tissue of the ECA territory and to ligature-induced inflammatory processes. An impact on outcome needs to be considered in this stroke model.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich, ETH , Zurich , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vaas
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich, ETH , Zurich , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ruiqing
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich, ETH, Zurich, Switzerland; Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rudin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Veterinary Pathology, University of Zurich , Zurich , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kipar
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich, ETH , Zurich , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klohs
keywords: external carotid artery; ischemia; middle cerebral artery occlusion; mouse; muscle degeneration