[How Long Are Unstained Sections Available for Immunostaining? -A Study of Antigenicity Preservation Time-].

It is well known that the antigenicity of unstained sections put on a slide glass decreases when the slides are stored at room temperature. Several methods have been reported to prevent reduced antigenicity, such as storing in a dark place at 4°C, covering sections with paraffin or a sheet, and storing in a deep freezer at -80°C. The aim of the present study is to determine how long unstained sections can be stored in a refriger- ator (ie, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month and 2 months).

Appearance of nuclear-sorted caspase-12 fragments in cerebral cortical and hippocampal neurons in rats damaged by autologous blood clot embolic brain infarctions.

Following endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, cerebral infarctions have been reported to involve an apoptotic process, including the activation of the caspase cascade. To confirm whether fragmented caspase-12, which is activated by cleavage and is detectable during ER stress, is also involved in embolic cerebral infarctions in rats, we adopted an autologous blood clot model for the analysis of cerebral infarctions. We performed experiments in rats with brain infarctions, which are closely related to embolic cerebral infarctions.

MCI-186 prevents brain tissue from neuronal damage in cerebral infarction through the activation of intracellular signaling.

The mechanism by which MCI-186 (3-methyl-1-phenyl-2-prazolin-5-one) exerts protective effects during cerebral infarction, other than its function as a radical scavenger, has not been fully elucidated. Here, we found that MCI-186 stimulates intracellular survival signaling in vivo and in vitro. In a rat infarction model, the infarct area was significantly smaller and the degree of edema was reduced in MCI-186-treated animals.