Production of various models of cerebral infarction in the dog by means of occlusion of intracranial trunk arteries.

Using the dog, which has been believed unsuitable for research on brain infarction because of an extensive collateral cerebral circulation, we have succeeded in producing at will ischemic foci, as determined from post-occlusion carbon perfusion, in the thalamus, cerebral mantle or entire cerebral hemisphere. This has been achieved by occlusion of various combinations of cerebral vessels at the base of the brain. A unilateral temporal approach has been used in identifying and occluding all of the bilateral trunk arteries. The following models of cerebral infarction have been made: 1) unilateral or bilateral complete cerebral hemisphere infarction, 2) unilateral or bilateral cerebral mantle infarction, 3) unilateral or bilateral thalamic infarction, 4) unilateral hemispheric and contralateral cerebral mantle infarction, 5) unilateral cerebral mantle and contralateral thalamic infarction, and 6) unilateral complete cerebral hemisphere and contralateral cerebral mantle infarction. These models of infarction in the dog can be produced with a high degree of success, and the amount of infarction can be controlled by the duration of vessel occlusion. The pathophysiology of brain infarction and brain edema following recirculation can be hemodynamically, electroencephalographically and biochemically studied using these models of cerebral infarction.