Correcting for Brain Swelling’s Effects on Infarct Volume Calculation After Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion in Rats

Devin W. McBride, Damon Klebe, Jiping Tang, John H. Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Evaluating infarct volume is the primary outcome for experimental ischemic stroke studies and is a major factor in determining translation of a drug into clinical trials. Numerous algorithms are available for evaluating this critical value, but a major limitation of current algorithms is that brain swelling is not appropriately considered. The model by Lin et al. is widely used, but overestimates swelling within the infarction, yielding infarct volumes which do not reflect the true infarct size. Herein, a new infarct volume algorithm is developed to minimize the effects of both peri-infarct and infarct core swelling on infarct volume measurement. 2,3,5-Triphenyl-2H-tetrazolium chloride-stained brain tissue of adult rats subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion was used for infarct volume analysis. When both peri-infarct swelling and infarction core swelling are removed from infarct volume calculations, such as accomplished by our algorithm, larger infarct volumes are estimated than those of Lin et al.’s algorithm. Furthermore, the infarct volume difference between the two algorithms is the greatest for small infarcts (<10 % of brain volume) when peri-infarct swelling is the greatest. Finally, using data from four published studies, our algorithm is compared to Lin et al.’s algorithm. Our algorithm offers a more reliable estimation of the infarct volume after ischemic brain injury, and thus may provide the foundation for comparing infarct volumes between experimental studies and standardizing infarct volume quantification to aid in the selection of the best candidates for clinical trials.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)323-338
Number of pages16
JournalTranslational Stroke Research
Volume6
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2015

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • General Neuroscience
  • Clinical Neurology
  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

Keywords

  • Brain swelling
  • Infarct volume
  • Infarction
  • MCAO
  • Middle cerebral artery occlusion
  • Brain Edema/complications
  • Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery/complications
  • Rats
  • Male
  • Functional Laterality
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Brain/pathology
  • Algorithms
  • Animals
  • Reperfusion
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Time Factors
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Tetrazolium Salts/metabolism

Cite this