Modelling Ischemic Stroke by Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion in Rats

Stroke is a medical emergency that can cause lasting brain injury, long-term disability, or even death. Ischemic stroke due to disruption in blood supply to the brain is more common accounting for the majority of stroke in humans than haemorrhagic stroke. Stroke remains the major global health burden and ‘unmet medical need’ and hence stroke research bears paramount importance among the investigators. However, there are no in vitro models available that completely simulate the complex interactions of vasculature, blood, and brain tissues during stroke. The animal models of stroke offer unique tools for the mechanistic insights and effect of therapeutic interventions in brain tissue in vivo. The middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) rat model is widely used to study focal cerebral ischemia preclinically. This chapter describes the procedure for transient intraluminal filament MCAo in rats to model human acute ischemic stroke and the assessment of various outcome measures including functional neurobehavioural and histological analysis. It also highlights the importance of various standard guidelines and recommendations such as STAIR (Stroke Therapy Academic Industry Roundtable) criteria including the use of clinically relevant animal models of stroke with comorbidities and IMPROVE (Ischemia Models: Procedural Refinements Of In vivo Experiments) for improving the quality of preclinical research and therapeutic translation from the bench to bedside.