Figure 3

ADC values and ratios on Day 2 and Day 8 after tMCAo. 3A illustrates the absolute ADC values for each of the tMCAo animals that underwent MRI on Day 2 and Day 8. The measurements were performed on cortical and subcortical regions on one coronal ADC map from each animal. Black ○●: tMCAo + saline; and red ○●: tMCAo + parecoxib. The contralateral non-ischemic hemispheres are marked with unfilled symbols, whereas the ischemic hemispheres are represented with filled dots. On Day 2 there was a significant mean ADC decrease in cortex and striatum of both groups (p < 0.01). On Day 8 the ADCs were "pseudonormalized" in the ischemic hemispheres due to cystic brain tissue necrosis. We found a significant mean ADC increase in the cortex of the saline-treated group (p < 0.01) compared with both the contralateral cortex and the ischemic cortex of the parecoxib group. 3B visualizes the ADC ratios of the ischemic vs. the contralateral hemispheres for both groups on Day 2 and Day 8. Note that the ADC ratios on Day 2 are lower than one in striatum and cortex in both groups which represent the initial ADC decrease after ischemia. However, on Day 8 the ADC ratios lie around or above one due to the "pseudonormalization" phenomenon (p < 0.03). In the cortex of saline-treated animals we found a significantly higher mean ADC ratio. Black ●: tMCAo + saline; and red ●: tMCAo + parecoxib. Mean values are marked with horizontal black lines. # indicates p < 0.01 and * p < 0.03.