[A microsurgical model of cerebral ischemia]

Microsurgery was performed on 102 rats of both sexes weighing from 150 to 250 g. Anesthesia was induced by injecting 1% hexenal into the abdominal cavity (1 ml/100 g bw). By median incision of the inferior third of the neck and upper third of the pectoris bone an extrapleural access to the mediastinum was actieved, where the common carotid and subclavian arteries were constricted distally to the branching out of the intrathoracic and proximally to the vertebral arteries. The EEG stopped being recorded at the 23 +/- 5th s, respiration stopped at the 4 +/- 0.3th min of cerebral ischemia. Blood pressure and heart rates, after a brief rise, gradually decreased with ischemia prolongation. Appearance of the EEG and respiration and the ECG and blood pressure after 10 min of cerebral ischemia took place within the first 20 min of the postischemic period. After cerebral ischemia lasting over 10 min all the animals died.