Transorbital Approach to the Middle Cerebral Artery of the Squirrel Monkey: A Technique for Experimental Cerebral Infarction Applicable to Ultrastructural Studies

Abstract

An appropriate surgical technique for the production of cerebral infarction must fulfill, among others, the following criteria in order to be suitable for electron microscopy (EM) studies: (1) the method of arterial occlusion should yield a high percentage of infarcts with predictable average size; (2) there must be avoidance of surgical manipulation (i.e., retraction) of the cerebral tissues or exposure of the same to the atmosphere; and (3) the method for occluding the artery must be one that permits fixation by perfusion of the ischemic and nonischemic brain. Modifications to a previously devised method for induction of cerebral infarct are herein described. This new surgical approach has made it possible to conduct detailed and sequential ultrastructural analysis of experimental cerebral infarctions.