Ischemic preconditioning represents an important adaptation mechanism of CNS, which results in its increased tolerance to the lethal cerebral ischemia. The molecular mechanisms responsible for the induction and maintenance of ischemic tolerance in the brain are complex and not yet completely clarified. In the last 10 years, great attention has been devoted to unravel the intracellular pathways ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Controversy exists on how to assess a patient's tolerance before permanent carotid artery occlusion. We sought to determine the positive predictive value of synchronous opacification of hemispheric cortical veins at angiography of the contralateral carotid or vertebral artery as a predictor of tolerance to permanent carotid artery occlusion without development of ischemic...

We investigated the acquisition of ischemic tolerance in the rat hippocampus using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Rats received 1000 pulses/day for 7 days, and the field excitatory postsynaptic potentials were measured in the hippocampal CA1. After slices were exposed to ischemic conditions, long-term potentiation (LTP) was induced. The LTP of the stimulated group was enha...

The concept of ischemic preconditioning refers to myocardial protection from ischemia-reperfusion insult by preceding brief ischemic episodes (1). An extensive effort has been made to understand the time frames and underlying mechanisms of ischemic preconditioning because of the potential applicability of this phenomenon in the clinical setting, especially because “preconditioning-mimetic” agen...

The best-known function of the serine protease tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) is as a thrombolytic enzyme. However, it is also found in structures of the brain that are highly vulnerable to hypoxia-induced cell death, where its association with neuronal survival is poorly understood. Here, we have demonstrated that hippocampal areas of the mouse brain lacking tPA activity are more vuln...

Preconditioning stimulus: Preconditioning is an adaptive response, whereby a small dose of a harmful substance protects the brain from a subsequent damaging insult (Dirnagl et al., 2009). The concept of preconditioning was first described in an ischemic heart model, it was observed that brief ischemic episodes protect against a subsequent ischemic insult (Murry et al., 1986). Consequently, seve...

Brain ischemic tolerance is a protective mechanism induced by a preconditioning stimulus, which prepare the tissue against harmful insults. Preconditioning with N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) agonists induces brain tolerance and protects it against glutamate excitotoxicity. Recently, the glycine transporters type 1 (GlyT-1) have been shown to potentiate glutamate neurotransmission through NMDA rec...

With aging, it appears the heart's ability to withstand injury declines markedly. Unfortunately, the incidence of ischemic disorders increases dramatically with age. Though the genesis of the ischemia-intolerant phenotype is incompletely understood (and likely multi-factorial), it may involve changes in intrinsic cardioprotective responses. In this respect we and others have interrogated the ro...

Accumulating experimental evidence strongly supports a role for inflammatory, innate immune and adaptive immune mechanisms in many facets of vascular disease.1 This brief review will highlight recently published insights into inflammation and immune system involvement in stroke biomarker identification, atherosclerosis, abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) formation, thrombosis, ischemic tolerance, ...

Elucidation of the endogenous cell survival pathways involved in ischemic tolerance (preconditioning) and postconditioning has significant clinical implications for preventing neuronal damage in susceptible patients. Ischemic tolerance is a phenomenon in which the brain protects itself against future injury by adapting to low doses of noxious insults. Ischemic postconditioning is defined as bri...