Table 1.

Effects of lithium on mortality of poststroke rats.

Group	Sham + Veh	Sham + LiCl	P value∗	MCAO + Veh	MCAO + LiCl	P value∗
n	9	9	NS	29	28	NS
Weight (g); mean ± SEM	363.4 ± 5.6	362.3 ± 4.7	NS	376.2 ± 3.9	378.3 ± 3.5	0.693
Rats with visible NDs at 24 h; number (%)	0 (0)	0 (0)	NS	21 (100)	21 (100)	NS
Mortality after 24 h; number (%)	0 (0)	0 (0)	NS	8 (27.6)	7 (25)	0.532

At 2 h before surgery vehicle-treated rats were injected (ip) with 0.35 mL NaCl 0.9% and LiCl-treated rats with 100 mg/kg lithium. Existence of NDs was assessed in surviving rats at 24 h after surgery as described in Section 2. Mortality was followed during 24 h after surgery. This table represents the results of the two experiments conducted in this study. ^∗Comparisons for statistical significance were done only between groups that underwent the same surgical procedure, that is, Sham + Veh versus Sham + LiCl; MCAO + Veh versus MCAO + LiCl. LiCl, lithium chloride; MCAO, middle cerebral artery occlusion; ND, neurological deficit; NS, nonsignificant; Veh, vehicle.