Fig. 1.

Effects of PGZ against brain damage in male rats. Post-ischemia treatment with PGZ or vehicle was performed immediately after MCAO induction on day 0 and once a day for 7 consecutive days. The neurological scores (a), body weight (b), and infarct volume (c) were recorded in PGZ- and vehicle-treated male rats. The infarct volume was recorded as a percentage of the contralateral hemisphere using Image J software (each group n = 12). The correlation between the infarct volume and neurological deficits was assessed by Spearman’s rank-correlation coefficient (d). Each bar represents the mean ± SD. *p < 0.05 vs. VC by ANOVA followed by Scheffe’s test. MCAO-R middle cerebral artery occlusion-reperfusion, VC vehicle control, PGZ 2.5 mg/kg pioglitazone