Figure 4.

Infarct volume and brain edema in rats subjected to cerebral ischemia reperfusion. Male adult Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) for 60 min followed by reperfusion. Three hours after reperfusion, animals were treated with vehicle or 0.5 mg/kg FTY720 intraperitoneally. Infarct volume was determined as previously described (56). Brain edema was determined by measuring hemispheric water content (41). (A) Representative coronal brain cuts obtained 24 h after MCAo. The arrows highlight areas of cerebral infarction. Brain cuts were digitalized and infarct volume determined by using the image analysis software (MetaMorph; Universal Imaging Corp., Downingtown, PA, USA). (B) Brain edema determined in the ipsilateral and contralateral hemisphere. Compared to vehicle animals, the treatment with 0.5 mg/kg FTY720 reduced infarct volume and brain edema. Significance determined using an unpaired t-test. Means ± SD (n = 5).