Activity of synaptosomal ATP diphosphohydrolase from hippocampus of rats tolerant to forebrain ischemia.

Cerebral ischemia causes cell death of vulnerable neurons in mammalian brain. Wistar adult rats (male and female, weighing 180-280 g) were submitted to 2 min, 10 min, or to 2 and 10 min (separated by a 24-h interval) of transient forebrain ischemia by the four-vessel occlusion method. Animals subjected to the longer ischemic episodes had massive necrosis of pyramidal CA1 cells of the hippocampus, while animals receiving double ischemia (2 + 10 min) showed neuronal tolerance to the ischemic insult.