APOPTOTIC DEATH IN CORTICAL-NEURONS OF MICE SUBJECTED TO FOCAL ISCHEMIA

Permanent focal cortical ischemia was induced in mice by electrocoagul ation of the middle cerebral artery. At different time intervals after the injury the volume of infarction was assessed together with an ana lysis of neuronal death. Morphological studies of ischemic brains and detection of nucleosomal DNA ladder within ipsilateral cortices might implicate a component of this neuronal loss to apoptosis as well as ne crosis. Furthermore, we wed the TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyl trans ferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labelling) procedure to detect in situ DNA fragmentation. The localization and the proportion of apopto tic cells in the ischemic mouse brain would indicate that apoptosis co ntributes largely to the cellular loss induced by cerebral ischemia.