Figure 6

Quantification of brain infarct volume in TNFα-transgenic and non-transgenic rats at 7 days. Representative infarcts are shown in the brain of a non-transgenic (non-Tg; Panel a) and a TNFα-transgenic (TNFα-Tg) rat (Panel b). In Panel c, a bar graph shows mean ± SD infarct volume in both TNFα-Tg and non-Tg rats. All animals underwent suture-occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery for one hour followed by 7 days of post-ischemic reperfusion. The 80-μm coronal sections of brain shown in Panels a and b were stained with cresyl violet for Nissl substance. Panel a shows well-demarcated infarction confined to the right cortical mantle and a portion of the underlying striatum in the non-Tg rat. In the transgenic animal shown in Panel b, the infarct occupies a larger proportion of the right cortical mantle and almost all of the ipsilateral striatum. Panel c shows that mean infarct volume in the transgenic group (n = 10) was significantly greater than that of the non-Tg group (n = 11; **p ≤ 0.01; unpaired t test).