Figure 2.

Multi-slice coronal T2-weighted MRI visualizing the acute cortical lesion. Multislice MR imaging shows the expansion of the lesion across the whole brain for representative animals of each of the four groups. The hyperintensity on the right hemisphere of the untreated stroke group (2nd row) and the cell treated stroke group (3rd row) depicts the ischemic territory at 48 h post distal MCA occlusion, showing a demarcated region between the brain surface and the corpus callosum. There is no clear difference in the lesion extent between these two-stroke groups (with and without cell engraftment). The sham-treated stroke group (1st row) is free of such extended cortical lesion except for a small hyperintense spot rather rostrally at the cortical surface at the site of the skull preparation. The fourth group of healthy animals with intracortically implanted human stem cells shows no anatomical alterations. The needle canal of the implantation site is barely visible on the second most rostral slice on the right hemisphere.