Vascular spasm in cat cerebral cortex following ischemia.

The reaction of brain parenchymal vessels in areas of no-reflow following ischemia in cats was evaluated. A method was devised by which brain biopsies following ischemia were quickly frozen at -170 degrees C, sections were cut and stained and vessel internal and external diameter measured. Vessels in the no-reflow areas had smaller internal and external diameters and thicker walls when compared to adjacent reflow areas as well as to normal control animals. By utilizing a 2-way analysis of variance in which reflow versus no-reflow vessel diameters were compared by region the differences were found to be statistically significant (p less than 0.05). The data raise the possibility that there may exist normal regional differences in the size of cerebral vessels.