Summary
Stroke is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and in Lithuania and is the third leading cause of death in developed couniries. The only currently approved medical treatment is the administration of intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator within 4.5 hours of stroke onset (according to the European Stroke Organization guidelines), aimed at restoring cerebral blood flow.
However, reperfusion can cause neurovascular injury, leading to cerebral edema, brain hemorrhage, and neuronal death by apoptosis/necrosis. The number and diversity of experimental global cerebral ischemia models have increased over the recent decades and animal studies have been provided most of our knowledge on pathophysiological mechanism involved in cerebral ischemia.
Fifteen pigs (18-29 kg) were anesthetized and randomly assigned to the one of the following groups: 1 - control (C), 2 - unilateral carotid occlusion (UCO),
- - bilateral carotid occlusion (BCO),
- - bilateral carotid occlusion with hypotension (MAP 40-50 mmHg) (BCOH). In order to investigate mechanisms of cerebral ischemia and histological structure (light microscopy and TUNEL assay) of brain tissue in healthy control animals and after 3 hours of brain ischemia (3 groups).
We found that in swine brains are just insignificant morphological changes after 3 hours ischemia. Nevertheless, global cerebral ischemia model with bilateral carotid occlusion and hypotension can be useful model for investigations in the future.
Keywords: cerebral ischemia, experimental model, pig.
