Department of Neurology, Tokyo Women's Medical University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
J Neurosci Res. 2019 Jul;97(7):752-759. doi: 10.1002/jnr.24403. Epub 2019 Apr 21.
Leptomeningeal anastomosis is a key factor for determining early ischemic lesions on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in human stroke. However, few studies have validated this relationship in an experimental model. This study sought to clarify the involvement of leptomeningeal anastomosis in early ischemic lesions using a murine model. Adult male C57BL/6 mice were subjected to unilateral common carotid artery (CCA) occlusion or sham surgery. Seven or 14 days later, the middle cerebral artery (MCA) was occluded for 45 min. In the first experiment, the leptomeningeal collaterals were visualized using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) DWI. In the second experiment, DWI was performed immediately after MCA occlusion, and the infarct sizes were determined 24 hr after recirculation. Unilateral CCA occlusion reduced the size of early ischemic lesions, enlarged the pial vessel diameter, and mitigated infarct size. The relationship between the DWI lesion size and pial vessel diameter was significant (r = 0.84, p < 0.01). The association between infarct size and DWI lesion size was also significant (r = 0.96, p < 0.01). In conclusion, involvement of the collateral circulation in early ischemic lesions was evident in the murine model. Both MRI and evaluation of leptomeningeal anastomosis could be used to develop a novel strategy targeting enhancement of the collateral circulation.
软脑膜吻合是决定人类中风弥散加权成像（DWI）早期缺血性病变的关键因素。然而，很少有研究在实验模型中验证这种关系。本研究旨在利用小鼠模型阐明软脑膜吻合在早期缺血性病变中的作用。成年雄性 C57BL/6 小鼠接受单侧颈总动脉（CCA）闭塞或假手术。7 或 14 天后，大脑中动脉（MCA）闭塞 45 分钟。在第一个实验中，使用磁共振成像（MRI）DWI 观察软脑膜吻合。在第二个实验中，MCA 闭塞后立即进行 DWI，并在再灌注后 24 小时确定梗死面积。单侧 CCA 闭塞减少了早期缺血性病变的范围，扩大了脑膜血管直径，并减轻了梗死面积。DWI 病变大小与脑膜血管直径之间的关系显著（r=0.84，p<0.01）。梗死面积与 DWI 病变大小之间的相关性也很显著（r=0.96，p<0.01）。总之，在小鼠模型中，侧支循环参与了早期缺血性病变。MRI 以及软脑膜吻合的评估都可以用于开发一种针对增强侧支循环的新策略。
