Fig. 1

The detrimental effect of a high-fat diet on stroke outcome is dependent on the severity of obesity and length of ischaemic challenge. Male C57BL/6 mice (8-week-old) were maintained on either a control or high-fat diet and, in separate groups of mice, 30-min middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) was performed after 2 (a), 3 (b), 4 (c) and 6 (e) months on diet. In mice fed diet for 6 months, MCAo was also performed for 20 min (d). Quantification of volume of ischaemic damage was performed on representative sections taken at eight defined coronal levels after 24-h reperfusion. f Representative pictures from 6-month high-fat- or control-fed mice after 30-min MCAo. Scale bar, 1.25 mm. Data are shown as mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM). n = 4–9/group. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 versus control-fed mice for the same brain region. Student’s t-test