Altered expression of thrombospondin-1/-2 in the cortex and synaptophysin in the hippocampus after middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion.

Blood supply returned to infracted tissue causes tissue damage. Therefore, ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injuries are usually accompanied by synapse formation, but the exact cause is still unknown. To address this question, we established a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) rat model with different reperfusion times, and we examined neurological deficit scores and brain infarct size.