Figure 2.

Pretreatment with PD98059 is neuroprotective. (A) Mice were pretreated with 200 μM PD98059 or 0.4% DMSO 30 min before 2 hr of focal cerebral ischemia followed by 22 hr of reperfusion. Brains were removed and sliced into five coronal sections (2 mm thick). The sections were treated with 2% 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (Sigma), followed by 10% formalin overnight. The infarcted areas were measured by an image analysis system (MCID version 3) on the posterior surface of each section, and infarction volume was calculated by summing the infarction volume of sequential 2-mm-thick sections. Numbers reflect the values obtained from seven mice per treatment (±SEM); ∗∗, P < 0.01. The data were analyzed by Student’s t test. (B) Dose-dependent neuroprotection with PD98059. Mice were pretreated with 50 or 100 μM PD98059 or 0.2% DMSO 30 min before 2 hr of focal cerebral ischemia followed by 22 hr of reperfusion. Infarcted volume values were obtained as described for A. The numbers reflect the values from seven mice per treatment; ∗, P < 0.05. The data were analyzed by ANOVA followed by