Ischemic tolerance in moderately symptomatic gerbils after unilateral carotid occlusion

Ischemic tolerance following transient global cerebral ischemia has drawn considerable attention because of the putative cell defense mechanism which may be inducible by ischemic stress. The purpose of this study is to investigate the inducibility of ischemic tolerance in moderately symptomatic gerbils after unilateral carotid occlusion. Adult Mongolian gerbils were used. Under ether inhalation, the right common carotid artery was occluded for up to 30 min with an aneurysmal clip. Immediately after occlusion, neurological signs and motor function were evaluated and gerbils with moderate signs were selected for investigation of ischemic tolerance. Ischemia for 30 min to gerbils with moderate signs constantly caused neuronal death in the caudoputamen, but it was prevented by pretreatment with 10 min ischemia which was reversible but strong enough to produce heat shock protein 70. The results show that ischemic tolerance can be induced after hemispheric cerebral ischemia as in the case of global cerebral ischemia and suggest that ischemic tolerance may be relevant in human stroke.