ABSTRACT
Cerebral ischemia results from a loss of blood supply to a region of the brain due to arterial blockage or hemorrhage. Global ischemia models reduce blood flow to the entire brain, mimicking cerebral ischemia from cardiac arrest, severe hypotension, or occasionally surgical procedures that alter blood flow. The characteristics of stroke in humans are similar to experimental models in animals. Animals and humans have similar neural and vascular substrates and similar biochemical and molecular mechanisms of injury. Preclinical research into the causes, pathogenesis, and therapeutic management of stroke therefore requires the use of animal models in addition to other techniques and models in vitro, such as tissue culture and brain slices. Finally, animal models allow investigators to study immediate and early ischemic events, events that can be difficult to examine in human patients because of the variable time delays in early recognition of a stroke and initial therapeutic intervention.
