Neuroprotective effects of acetylsalicylic acid in an... : NeuroReport (original) (raw)

Clinical neuroscience

Neuroprotective effects of acetylsalicylic acid in an animal model of focal brain ischemia

Khayyam, Naiyar1; Thavendiranathan, Paaladinesh1; Carmichael, F J.2; Kus, Bart1; Jay, Venita1; Burnham, W Mclntyre3

1Department of Pharmacology and Bloorview Epilepsy Program, Medical Sciences Building, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada

2Present address: Hemosol Inc., 115 Skyway Avenue, Etobicoke, ON M9W 4Z4, Canada.

3Corresponding Author: W. Mclntyre Burnham

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The authors would like to thank the Bloorview Childrens Hospital Foundation for financial support and Jerome Cheng for technical help. N.K. was a Fellow of the Bloorview Epilepsy Research Program.

Received 3 November 1998; accepted 23 November 1998

Abstract

RECENT studies have shown neuroprotective effects of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) in cell cultures and hippocampal slices. The present study demonstrates similar effects in a whole-animal modal of focal ischemic stroke. Focal cortical ischemia was produced in Wistar rats by ligation of the common carotid and middle cerebral arteries. Subjects were sacrificed 8 days after ligation, and infarct volume was assessed via automated densitometry. Significant reductions in infarct volume were seen with i.p. ASA doses of 15 mg/kg and above. Reductions occurred when ASA was injected 2 h or 30 min before ligation, but not when it was injected 8 or 24 h before, or 30 min after ligation.