TABLE 1.

Experimental groups, description, and the number of animals used for each experiment.

Group name	Group description	Number of animals
		PCR	Neurological studies	Mortality and exclusion	Total
Sham	Rats subjected to surgical procedure as MCAO rats, but no sutures were inserted.	6♂	–	–	6♂
Untreated	Rats subjected to MCAO but received no treatment	18♂	–	7♂	25♂
SVsh treated SVsh-IAR/ SVsh-SD	Rats subjected to MCAO and received SVsh treatment immediately (within 30 min) after reperfusion.	–	18♂ + 13♀	12♂ + 7♀	30♂ + 20♀
SVsh-RD	Rats subjected to MCAO and received SVsh treatment immediately (within 30 min) after reperfusion and on post-reperfusion days 7 and 14.	–	8♂	4♂	12♂
M12sh treated M12sh-IAR/ M12sh-SD	Rats subjected to MCAO and received M12sh treatment immediately (within 30 min) after reperfusion.	18♂	18♂ + 12♀	15♂ + 5♀	51♂ + 17♀
M12sh-3hAR	Rats subjected to MCAO and received M12sh treatment 3h after reperfusion.	–	12♂	5♂	17♂
M12sh-6hAR	Rats subjected to MCAO and received M12sh treatment 6h after reperfusion.	–	12♂	6♂	18♂
M12sh-RD	Rats subjected to MCAO and received M12sh treatment immediately (within 30 min) after reperfusion and on post-reperfusion days 7 and 14.	–	10♂ + 10♀	4♂ + 6♀	14♂ + 16♀

♂, Male; ♀, female; MCAO, middle cerebral artery occlusion; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; AR, after reperfusion; SD, single dose; RD, repeated dose.