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Updated: Dec 30, 2025
Author Spotlight: Assessing Ischemic Stroke Damage Through Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Model
Published on: August 11, 2023
Detection of spreading depolarizations in a middle cerebral artery occlusion model in swine
Modar Kentar1, Martina Mann2,3, Felix Sahm4
1Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 400, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany. modar.kentar@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
Background:
The main objective of this study was to generate a hemodynamically stable swine model to detect spreading depolarizations (SDs) using electrocorticography (ECoG) and intrinsic optical signal (IOS) imaging and laser speckle flowmetry (LSF) after a 30-h middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion (MCAo) in German Landrace Swine.
Methods:
A total of 21 swine were used. The study comprised a training group (group 1, n = 7), a group that underwent bilateral craniectomy and MCAo (group 2, n = 10) and a group used for 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium (TTC) staining (group 3, n = 5).
Results:
In group 2, nine animals that underwent MCAo survived for 30 h, and one animal survived for 12 h. We detected MCA variants with 2 to 4 vessels. In all cases, all of the MCAs were occluded. The intensity changes exhibited by IOS and LSF after clipping were closely correlated and indicated a lower blood volume and reduced blood flow in the middle cerebral artery territory. Using IOS, we detected a mean of 2.37 ± (STD) 2.35 SDs/h. Using ECoG, we detected a mean of 0.29 ± (STD) 0.53 SDs/h. Infarctions were diagnosed using histological analysis. TTC staining in group 3 confirmed that the MCA territory was compromised and that the anterior and posterior cerebral arteries were preserved.
Conclusions:
We confirm the reliability of performing live monitoring of cerebral infarctions using our MCAo protocol to detect SDs.
