ISCHEMIC TOLERANCE IN MODERATELY SYMPTOMATIC GERBILS AFTER UNILATERALCAROTID OCCLUSION

Ischemic tolerance following transient global cerebral ischemia has dr awn considerable attention because of the putative cell defense mechan ism which may be inducible by ischemic stress. The purpose of this stu dy is to investigate the inducibility of ischemic tolerance in moderat ely symptomatic gerbils after unilateral carotid occlusion. Adult Mong olian gerbils were used. Under ether inhalation, the right common caro tid artery was occluded for up to 30 min with an aneurysmal clip. Imme diately after occlusion, neurological signs and motor function were ev aluated and gerbils with moderate signs were selected for investigatio n of ischemic tolerance. Ischemia for 30 min to gerbils with moderate signs constantly caused neuronal death in the caudoputamen, but it was prevented by pretreatment with 10 min ischemia which was reversible b ut strong enough to produce heat shock protein 70. The results show th at ischemic tolerance can be induced after hemispheric cerebral ischem ia as in the case of global cerebral ischemia and suggest that ischemi c tolerance may be relevant in human stroke.