ABSTRACT
Fluoro-Jade B, a marker of degenerating neurons, was used to label histopathological changes in the rat spinal cord after transient ischemia and ischemic preconditioning (IPC). To characterize postischemic neurodegenerations and consequent neurological changes, a particular attention was paid to the standardization of ischemic conditions in animals of both groups. 1. The control ischemic rats were submitted to a reversible occlusion of descending aorta by insertion and subsequent inflation of a 2F Fogarty catheter for 12 min. 2. In the IPC rats, an episode of short 3 min occlusion and 30 min reperfusion preceded the 12 min ischemia. Postischemic motor function testing (ambulation and stepping) was provided repeatedly for evaluation of neurological status 2 h and 24 h after surgery and at the end of postischemic survival, i.e. after 48 h. Fluoro-Jade B staining was used to demonstrate degenerated neurons. In the control rats, neurological consequences of histopathological changes in lumbosacral spinal cord, manifested as paraplegia, were present after 12 min ischemia. Thus, numbers of degenerated Fluoro-Jade B positive cells were visible in gray matter of the most injured L(4)-S(2) spinal cord segments. Slight motor function impairment, consequential from significant decreasing in Fluoro-Jade B-positivity in the L(4)-S(2) spinal cord segments of the IPC rats, was considered the pathomorpfological evidence that IPC induces spinal cord tolerance to ischemia. Our results are consistent with the previously published silver impregnation method for histopathological demonstration of ischemic degeneration.