Figure 3.

Cerebral cortex and caudate putamen damage induced by transient endovascular middle cerebral artery occlusion in SD rat. (a) T2 and (b) Diffusion-weighted MRI in a same rat after 1 hour left MCA occlusion. Imaging was performed at 4.7 T 33 cm magnet with a Brucket Console (Billerica, MA, USA), using an actively shielded gradient set capable of 220 mT/m. DWI was acquired using a standard pulsed gradient spin echo technique with an echo time (TE) of 33 ms. The gradient pulses were each applied for 9 ms and were separated by 13 ms around the 180° refocusing pulse. The gradient amplitude used was 152 mT/m resulting in a b-value of 1400 s/mm². T₂WI was acquired using a standard spin echo technique with a TE of 75 ms. MCA occlusion induced damage in cerebral cortex, including frontal, parietal and occipital, and caudate putamen, evidenced by both (A) T2 and (B) Diffusion-weighted MRI. Images a, b, c, and d correspond to the cross section of Bregma 1.8, −0.8, −2.8, and −3.8 mm, respectively, from the same rat after MCAO. Note that no damage was shown in hippocampus