Figure 1. Aged rats display greater degree of neurodegeneration than young rats following MCAO.
MCAO results in neurodegeneration in both young and aged rats. Arrows show examples of Fluoro-Jade stained (degenerating) neurons. In young adult rats at 6 h post MCAO, neuronal damage was confined to ipsilateral striatum (A) and did not extend into cortex (B). In aged animals at 6 h post MCAO, neuronal damage was observed in both ipsilateral striatum (C) and cortex (D). By 24 h post MCAO in young animals, neurodegeneration was persistently observed in ipsilateral striatum (E) and appeared in ipsilateral cortex (F). Bar = 100 μ.