Manganese Superoxide Dismutase Deficiency Exacerbates Cerebral Infarction After Focal Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion in Mice

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Abstract
Background and Purpose— Superoxide anion radicals (O2·−) are implicated in ischemia/reperfusion injury, although a direct relationship has not been elucidated. Recently, a specific method of hydroethidine (HEt) oxidation by O2·− was developed to detect O2·− production in a variety of experimental brain injury models. To clarify the role of O2·− in the mechanism of ischemia/reperfusion, we investigated O2·− production after ischemia/reperfusion and ischemia/reperfusion injury in mutant mice deficient in mitochondrial manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) and in wild-type littermates. Methods— Ischemia/reperfusion was performed for 60 minutes using intraluminal suture blockade of the middle cerebral artery in the mutant or wild-type mice. We evaluated fluorescent kinetics of HEt or ethidium, the oxidized form of HEt, in brains after an intravenous injection of HEt, followed by measurement of cellular O2·− production using specific HEt oxidation by O2·− before and after ischemia/reperfusion. Furthermore, we...