Fig. 1

Excess salt intake exacerbates disease outcomes of ischemic stroke. C57BL/6 mice were fed with ND or HSD for 28d and were subjected to 60min of tMCAO. Animals were sacrificed at 3 days or 7 days after tMCAO. a The timeline of the in vivo experimental design. b, c Infarct volume of male mice was quantified in NeuN (green)-stained coronal sections at 3 days and 7 days in vivo. Dashed lines outline the infarct area. N = 6–8 mice per group, *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01 versus ND group in t test. d, e Representative images demonstrating TUNEL (green) co-labeling with NeuN (red) in infarct penumbra at 3 days and 7 days after tMCAO in vivo. The number of NeuN⁺TUNEL⁺ neurons was quantified. N = 5 mice per group. ***P < 0.001 and ****P < 0.0001 versus ND group in t test. f The reduction rate of dead/dying neurons from 3 days–7 days after tMCAO was calculated in vivo. N = 5 mice per group, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001 versus ND group in t test. g Neurological deficit score was assessed at 0–3 days after tMCAO. N = 10 per group, *P < 0.05 versus ND group in t test. h Survival of mice was recorded at 0–7 days after tMCAO. N = 10 mice per group. *P < 0.05 versus ND group in t test. ND normal diet, HSD high-salt diet, STR striatum, and CTX cortex