Fig. 2.

Dexamethasone (DX) treatment decreased mortality and improved the neuroscore and weight at 7 days and promotes long-term recovery after MCAO. Experimental design line (A). Twelve hours after MCAO, each mouse was treated with 0.25 mg/kg DX or 20 μl saline solution by the intranasal route. The percentage of survival (B), body weight (C), and area under the curve (AUC) for neuroscore (D) were determined daily for 7 days after MCAO. From mice that survived 7 days after the MCAO, a group of animals (n = 10 per group) were evaluated for an extra period of 42 days (6 weeks) (A, B, and C). Data represent the mean ± SEM. Survival was analyzed by the Mantel–Cox log–rank test; the percentage of body weight loss was analyzed by 2-way ANOVA, followed by Bonferroni’s multiple-comparisons test. The AUC was calculated averaging the neuroscore scale for 7 days, and peaks were compared by 1-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey’s multiple-comparisons test. Different letters (a, b, and c) indicate significant differences in the survival, body weight, and neuroscore between sham, treated, and nontreated mice (p < 0.05)