Edema and Necrosis in Experimental Cerebral Infarction

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Abstract
Some cerebral edema always accompanies ischemic infarction and contributes to symptoms in a substantial number of human cases.1 Although the edema usually is greater with large than with small infarcts,2 morphologic correlation sometimes is poor. This raises the question in ischemic lesions whether there is a stage of prenecrotic swelling or of swelling independent of necrosis; the corollary question is whether swelling itself contributes to the eventual size of the brain infarct. To investigate this we attempted to induce in rats graded anoxicischemic cerebral lesions; small animals were chosen in order to have sufficient numbers to analyze results. Because of the well-known narrow margin in rats between producing no brain lesion at all and producing death by anoxia, a modification of Levine's3 technique combining carotid ligation with anoxic exposure was employed. Whereas Levine (and Spector4) exposed animals to severe hypoxia for variable periods of time

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