Blood-damaged tissue interaction in experimental brain ischemia

This paper is a review and synthesis of work done in our laboratory by many investigators over roughly 18 years dealing with the microcirculation in a zone of acute ischemic injury. The work has been guided by a hypothesis that blood flowing through the microcirculation of an acute injury zone is capable of undergoing a multifactorial interaction at the blood-endothelial interface that can progressively impair microvascular perfusion and contribute locally to the evolution of cellular damage and death. Our work has implicated Factor VIII/von Willebrand factor, prostanoids, leukocytes, platelets, platelet-activating factor, leukotrienes, adhesion receptors, monocytes/macrophages, and cytokines in this interaction.