Stroke Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Stroke, including details on treatment, recovery, rehabilitation, signs, symptoms.

An animal model of capsular infarct: endothelin-1 injections in the rat.

Frost SB, Barbay S, Mumert ML, Stowe AM, Nudo RJ

Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA. sfrost@kumc.edu

In this study stereotaxic injections of the vasoconstrictive peptide endothelin-1 (ET-1) were used to create infarcts in the white matter of the internal capsule underlying sensorimotor cortex in rats. Resulting deficits were assessed using established sensorimotor tests conducted on each rat before and after the ET-1-induced infarct. After a 14-day survival period, histological examination revealed tissue necrosis and demyelination in the infarcted white matter of ET-1-injected rats, but not saline-injected control rats. Infarcts resulted in measurable sensorimotor deficits in rats that received ET-1 injections. The same sensorimotor tests showed no deficits in surgical-control rats. The present model of white matter infarct should be valuable in examining the underlying mechanisms of subcortical ischemic stroke and to evaluate potential therapeutic interventions.

Published 27 March 2006 in Behav Brain Res, 169(2): 206-11.
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