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Updated: Aug 16, 2026
Non-invasive Imaging and Analysis of Cerebral Ischemia in Living Rats Using Positron Emission Tomography with 18F-FDG
Published on: December 28, 2014
Co-registration of radiographic and pathologic infarct territory in a non-human primate model of stroke
Ricardo J Komotar1, J Mocco, William J Mack
1Department of Neurological Surgery, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. rjk2103@columbia.edu
Objectives:
Infarct volume correlation using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and pathology specimens enables exact tissue localization of cerebral injury following experimental stroke. We describe a protocol that enables co-registration of radiographic signal change and histologic ischemia in a non-human primate model of stroke.
Methods:
One male baboon underwent left middle cerebral artery territory occlusion/reperfusion. MRI [5 mm axial T2 weighted (T2W) slices] was carried out 9 days post-ischemia after which the animal was killed. Immediately post-mortem, the whole brain was perfused and fixed in paraformaldehyde and sliced into 5 mm axial sections that corresponded to those demonstrated on MRI. Slices (40 microm) were obtained from each section and were then stained using Luxol hematoxylin and eosin.
Results:
The relative area of hyperintensity demonstrated on T2W MRI approximates, in size and location, the region of infarct on gross pathology. This was confirmed microscopically.
Discussion:
With the use of advanced imaging modalities, this co-registration technique affords the capacity to differentiate ischemic core, penumbra, and uninjured cortex following experimental stroke. Such a precise delineation enables immunohistochemical analysis of a wide variety of substrates in each of the aforementioned regions.
