Fig. 1

Experimental procedure. The left middle cerebral artery was occluded for 60 min for all of the MCAO subgroups. MRI data were acquired to check occlusion, brain edema, and intracerebral bleeding of the left brain hemisphere 24 h later for the control and day 1 MCAO subgroups, 3 days later for the day 3 MCAO subgroup, 7 days later for the day 7 MCAO subgroup, and 14 days later for the day 14 MCAO subgroup. Functional examination was repetitively performed at the same time points prior to MRI. MRI data were acquired again exactly 4 and 2 days later for group 1 and group 2, respectively. Rats of group 1 were sacrificed for immunofluorescence staining