ABSTRACT
Objective To establish an animal model with more serious ischemic brain damage by combining unilateral carotid artery ligation with double injection model of cisterna magna. Methods Thirty New Zealand rabbits were evenly randomized into sham group, subarachnoid hemarrhage (SAH) group, and SAH + carotid artery occlusion (CAO) group. Double blood injection was performed in SAH group and SAH + CAO group; right carotid artery ligation was also performed in the SAH + CAO group. All the animals were sacrificed at day 5 after the first blood injection, and then H-E and TUNEL staining were performed for the brain tissue sections. The diameter of the basilar artery was measured and the neuronal apoptosis was counted at the hippocampus region. Results The survival rate for the sham group, SAH group, and SAH + CAO group were 100%, 90%, and 70%, respectively. Compared with the sham group, SAH group and SAH + CAO group had significant basilar artery vasospasm and neural apoptosis (P < 0.001). The diameters of basilar artery were not significantly different between SAH group and SAH + CAO group (P = 0.342); however, the neuronal apoptosis count in hippocampal region was significantly higher in SAH + CAO group than in SAH group (P = 0.005). Conclusion Unilateral carotid artery ligation combined with double injection model of cisterna magna can be used to establish a more serious cerebral vasospasm model.