Middle cerebral artery occlusion in the mouse by intraluminal suture coated with poly-L-lysine: neurological and histological validation.

The present study was conducted to validate a modified method of temporary focal cerebral ischemia in the mouse; neurobehavioral function and histopathological infarction were quantitated following various periods of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo). Male C57BL/6 mice were anesthetized with 3% halothane in a mixture of 30%O2/70%N2O delivered by face mask and were subjected to 30- to 180-min of temporary middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) by an intraluminal suture coated with poly-l-lysine. Twenty-eight of 40 mice showed an initial high-grade neurological deficit (30-min MCAo, n=7; 60-min, n=8; 120-min, n=8; 180-min, n=5) when examined during MCAo; these were used for subsequent study. One day after MCAo, behavioral function was re-evaluated, and brains were perfusion-fixed and infarct volumes were measured. The initial neurological deficit improved at 24 h in mice with 30- or 60-min of prior MCAo but tended to persist in mice with 120- or 180-min insults. Following each duration of ischemia, mice exhibited ipsilateral infarcts. Small, inconsistent predominantly subcortical infarcts were present after 30-min MCAo, while longer occlusion periods gave rise to consistent foci of subcortical infarction involving striatum, septum, thalamus, and hippocampus, as well as areas of frontoparietal cortical infarction. The major advantages of the improved intraluminal MCAo model reported here, incorporating sutures coated with poly-l-lysine, include: a 100% incidence of infarction of predictable location and size in mice having an initial neurological deficit. Periods of 60- to 180-min MCA occlusion in this model yield sufficiently reproducible sequelae to permit the effects of various therapeutic agents on neurological outcome and size of infarction to be readily studied.