ANIMAL-MODELS OF ACUTE ISCHEMIC STROKE - CAN THEY PREDICT CLINICALLY SUCCESSFUL NEUROPROTECTIVE DRUGS

Substantial efforts are being made to develop drugs which will protect the brain from the neurodegeneration that follows an acute ischaemic stroke. However, while there are already a significant number of anima l models of stroke, there is currently no information as to whether ac tivity of a compound in any of them will predict clinical efficacy. In this article, Jackie Hunter, Richard Green and Alan Cross review the major models of acute cerebral ischaemia and propose rational protocol s for examining novel neuroprotective agents.