Table 1.

Overview of occlusion techniques in ischemic stroke models.

Technique	Procedure	Advantage	Disadvantage
Middle cerebral artery occlusion	–Monofilament inserted into CCA and pushed forward to ICA until MCA branches off. –Removal after defined occlusion time.	–CBF decreases rapidly and is restored after filament removal. –Large infarct with well-defined penumbra. –Well suitable for neuroprotective studies.	–CBF measurement is mandatory to create reproducible insults. –Experienced surgeon is needed to create reliable results.
Transcranial occlusion	–Coagulation, clip, or suture can be used for transient or permanent MCA occlusion across a cranial window. –Often combined with ipsilateral CCA occlusion.	–Generation of very small infarcts with good defined penumbra. –Generation of large brain infarcts with pronounced neurological deficits.	–Experienced surgeon is needed to create reliable results. –Difficult identification of cerebrovascular anatomy variants. –Insufficiently standardized placement of MCA occlusion.
Cerebral photothrombosis	–Systemic delivery of photosensitive dye that is transcranially illuminated, resulting in thrombus formation that locally occludes microvessels.	–No experienced surgeon is needed. –Possibility to produce well-defined infarcts in specific regions by stereotactic precision	–No genuine penumbra. –Hardly reacts to thrombolytic drugs.
Endothelin-1 occlusion	–Long-acting vasoconstrictor. –Administered directly to the vessel via stereotactical injection or delivered on the cortical surface.	–Extremely low mortality rates. –No experienced surgeon is needed.	–Induction of astrocytosis and axonal sprouting could lead to misinterpretation in experiments evaluating poststroke neural repair.
Cerebral embolism	–Synthetic macrospheres or microspheres, autologous blood clots, and stereotactic thrombin delivery.	–Well-defined penumbra. –Well-suited to study neuroprotective drugs only, as well as in combination with thrombolytic agents.	–Highly variable infarcts compared. –Poor long-term animal survival.