First described by Thomas Willis in 1679 and defined in the 1950s, transient ischemic attack is universally agreed to be an episode of focal neurologic deficit in a vascular distribution, sudden in onset and resolving without residual deficit in less than or equal to 24 hours. Transient ischemic attack is diagnosed by characteristic history and absence of residua on neurologic examination. Afte...

Statins have recently been shown to exert neuronal protection in ischemic stroke. Reactive oxygen species, specifically superoxide formed during the early phase of reperfusion, augment neuronal injury. NADPH oxidase is a key enzyme for superoxide production. The present study tested the hypothesis that atorvastatin protects against cerebral infarction via inhibition of NADPH oxidase-derived sup...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The efficacy of pretreatment with the recently developed intracellular calcium antagonist AT877 against transient focal cerebral ischemia was investigated in rats subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion using the endovascular suture method. METHODS Halothane-induced moderate hypotension (60 mm Hg) was used during 100 minutes of temporary middle cer...

BACKGROUND The authors' previous study demonstrated that a clinical antiarrhythmic dose of lidocaine, when given before ischemia, is neuroprotective in a rat model of transient focal cerebral ischemia. In this study, the authors investigated whether the administration of this dose of lidocaine, when delayed until 45 min after the onset of ischemia, also reduces ischemic brain injury. METHODS ...

background: pentoxifylline (ptx) is used in human for intermittent claudication and cerebral vascular disorders including cerebrovascular dementia. it also inhibits the synthesis of tumor necrosis factor-α (tnf-α), which is believed to be neurotoxic in animal models of cerebral ischemia. the objective of this study was to examine the role of ptx on ischemia/reperfusion injures in rat model of t...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Accumulating evidences have demonstrated that nuclear factor κB/p65 plays a protective role in the protection of ischemic preconditioning and detrimental role in lethal ischemia-induced programmed cell death including apoptosis and autophagic death. However, its role in the protection of ischemic postconditioning is still unclear. METHODS Rat MCAO model was used to prod...

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a major mediator of angiogenesis and also a strong vascular permeability factor. Blockade of VEGF may have a potential to treat cerebral edema after brain injury. We evaluated the effect of VGA1155 (5- [N-Methyl-N-(4-octadecyloxyphenyl)acetyl]amino-2- methylthiobenzoic acid), a novel binding antagonist of VEGF, on cerebral edema after transient focal...

background & objectives: ischemic stroke is the third leading cause of death and disability in most of the human societies. there is no effective treatment due to complexity of the pathophysiological mechanisms. today, more researches are designed to introduce involving factors and new treatment strategies in brain ischemia. the objective of this study is to introduce an experimental model of t...

TIA was originally defined as a sudden onset of a focal neurologic symptom and/or sign lasting less than 24 hours and caused by reversible cerebral ischemia. However, this classic definition of TIA was inadequate for several reasons. Most notably, there is risk of permanent tissue injury (ie, infarction) even when focal transient neurologic symptoms last less than one hour. Furthermore, about o...

Cerebral microbleeds have acquired increased attention as a silent marker of small vessel disease that carries an increased risk of hemorrhage. The etiology is believed to be either hypertension or amyloid deposition. Here, we present a case with a patient whose transient focal symptom most likely was due to the occurrence of an acute microbleed, indicating that not all microbleeds are silent a...