Chemical Sympathectomy, but not Adrenergic Blockade, Improves Stroke Outcome.

Background: A robust adrenergic response following stroke impairs lymphocyte function, which may prevent the development of autoimmune responses to brain antigens. We tested whether inhibition of the sympathetic response after stroke would increase the propensity for developing autoimmune responses to brain antigens.

Methods: Male Lewis rats were treated with 6-hydroxydopamine (OHDA) prior to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), labetalol after MCAO, or appropriate controls.

The contribution of antibiotics, pneumonia and the immune response to stroke outcome.

Background: Infections are common following stroke and associated with worse outcome. Using an animal model of pneumonia, we assessed the effect of infection and its treatment on the immune response and stroke outcome.

Methods: Lewis rats were subjected to transient cerebral ischemia and survived for 4weeks.

Promiscuity of autoimmune responses to MBP after stroke.

In this study we examined Th1 and Th17 immune responses to rat myelin basic protein (MBP), bovine MBP, human MBP, MBP 68-86, MBP 63-81 and ovalbumin in Lewis rats to determine which MBP antigen is recognized following ischemic brain injury. Responses were compared to animals immunized to rat MBP. Data show that immune responses following immunization with rat MBP are promiscuous with cross reaction to MBP from other species.

Effect of Antibiotic Class on Stroke Outcome.

Background And Purpose: Infections are common after stroke and associated with worse outcome. Clinical trials evaluating the benefit of prophylactic antibiotics have produced mixed results. This study explores the possibility that antibiotics of different classes may differentially affect stroke outcome.

Strain differences in fatigue and depression after experimental stroke.

Fatigue and depression are common symptoms after stroke. Animal models of poststroke fatigue (PSF) and poststroke depression (PSD) would facilitate the study of these symptoms. Spontaneous locomotor activity is as an objective measure of fatigue and learned helplessness an accepted correlate of depression.

Variation in behavioral deficits and patterns of recovery after stroke among different rat strains.

Pre-clinical models of stroke therapeutics depend upon the ability to detect differences in infarct volume as well as in the short- and long-term outcomes of treated animals. Little attention has been paid to interstrain differences in these outcomes and the importance of defining the most appropriate behavioral tests. In this study, we evaluate long-term outcome from stroke in three different rat strains.

Peroxiredoxin 5 (PRX5) is correlated inversely to systemic markers of inflammation in acute stroke.

Background And Purpose: Peroxiredoxins are endogenous antioxidants that function as peroxide and peroxynitrite scavengers. Extracellular peroxiredoxins, however, are shown to initiate inflammation within the ischemic brain through activation of Toll-like receptors. Based on this observation, we hypothesized that plasma peroxiredoxin concentrations in ischemic stroke would correlate biomarkers of inflammation and predict poor outcome.

The immunologic profile of adoptively transferred lymphocytes influences stroke outcome of recipients.

Animals that have myelin basic protein (MBP) specific lymphocytes with a Th1(+) phenotype have worse stroke outcome than those that do not. Whether these MBP specific cells contribute to worsened outcome or are merely a consequence of worse outcome is unclear. In these experiments, lymphocytes were obtained from donor animals one month after stroke and transferred to naïve recipient animals at the time of cerebral ischemia.

Anamnestic recall of stroke-related deficits: an animal model.

Background And Purpose: Anamnestic recall of stroke-related deficits is a common clinical observation, especially during periods of systemic infection. The pathophysiology of this transient re-emergence of neurological dysfunction is unknown.

Methods: Male Lewis rats underwent 3 hours middle cerebral artery occlusion and were treated with lipopolysaccharide or saline at the time of reperfusion.