RODENT MODELS OF GLOBAL CEREBRAL-ISCHEMIA - A COMPARISON OF 2-VESSEL OCCLUSION AND 4-VESSEL OCCLUSION

1. Human stroke is a complex and heterogeneous phenomenon that may def y attempts to develop a unitary animal model with which to address all of the relevant issues. 2. Focal models are regarded by many to be th e approach of choice, but both global and focal models of cerebral isc hemia can be sources of useful and complementary insight. 3. Of the gl obal models, four-vessel occlusion requires a preparatory operative pr ocedure that may increase the risk of extraneous factors confounding t he response to the ischemic insult itself. The procedures are only par tly reversible, with the vertebral arteries remaining permanently occl uded. 4. The two-vessel occlusion model is easier to perform in a sing le procedure, and the less intrusive surgical intervention allows grea ter scope for recovery experiments. The occlusion is fully reversible. 5. Many classes of compounds with therapeutic potential have been ide ntified in the laboratory, often on the basis of success in one class of animal model, but translating these successes into a clinical conte xt has proved singularly difficult. If, in future, compounds of intere st are tested across a range of the available models, the likelihood o f subsequent clinical success may be enhanced. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scien ce Inc.