Fig. 1

Sodium butyrate reduces brain infarct volume. Middle-aged female rats were subjected to MCAo and injected with two doses of vehicle or sodium butyrate each at 6 and 30 h after ET-1 injection. a Representative pictures of TTC-stained coronal sections from vehicle (saline)- or NaB (300 mg/kg, i.p.)-treated female rats at 2 and 5 days post stroke. b Quantitative analysis of infarct volume, expressed as a ratio to the non-ischemic hemisphere, shows that post-stroke NaB treatment significantly decreased infarct size compared to control at 2 and 5 days post stroke. c Percent body weight change during 24 h and 5 days post stroke, normalized to pre-stroke weight, indicates percent weight loss post MCAo is significantly reduced in NaB-treated animals as compared to control group during 24 h after MCAo. Graphs represent mean ± S.E.M, n  =  6–7 in each group. Unpaired t test (b) and two-way ANOVA, Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (c), **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05. b: main effect of treatment, p < 0.05