Application of endovascular suture occlusion of middle cerebral artery in gerbils to obtain consistent infarction

Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) by endovascular suture has gained i ncreasing acceptance because if is relatively non-invasive and allows reper fusion. However, its application in rats has resulted in inconsistent infar ction volumes which involve only the subcortex or subcortex plus some corte x. In order to eliminate this drawback, we applied the intraluminal suture occlusion of MCA to gerbils that have an incomplete Circle of Willis. MCAO was induced by inserting an endovascular 5-0 nylon suture with a blunted ti p into the Circle of Willis. Animals were divided into two groups: permanen t MCAO For 24 h (n = 8) and transient MCAO for 3 h with 21 h reperfusion (n = 8). The corrected infarction volume in the permanent MCAO group was 232 +/- 37mm(3) whereas it was 230 +/- 45 mm(3) in the transient MCAO group. AI I animals in both groups had infarction in both cortex and subcortex. Resul ts of this study show that endovascular suture occlusion of MCA can be easi ly applied in gerbils to obtain consistent infarction. This would allow bot h transient and permanent focal ischemia to be tested in the same model of ischemia.