ABSTRACT
Histological and immunochemical stains are important tools for stroke research. In this chapter, the authors introduce some basic techniques that they trust will benefit beginners in central nervous system studies. Staining with Triphenyltetrazolium Chloride is a common method to assess lesion size in rat brains after stroke. Stroke leads to profound cellular responses both in the vicinity of the infarct and remote regions. After stroke, the initial phagocytic response is mainly performed by resident microglia. Studies on humans and animals showed that glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) was increased in acute stroke patients, indicating that GFAP is expressed in brain ischemia. Perfusion with 1% gelatin is used for preparation of animal brain tissue after more than 3 days post-stroke, because the infarcted areas tend to fall away when the free-floating sections are collected, or later when the sections are stained. The stage temperature is adjustable so that optimum cutting temperatures can be set for different kinds of tissue.
