Thrombolytic Treatment of Clot Embolism in Rat

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Abstract
Background and Purpose— We sought to test the hypothesis that intra-arterial recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) treatment of thromboembolic stroke is more efficient than intravenous application. Methods— Rats were embolized by intracarotid injection of autologous fibrin-rich blood clots. One hour later rtPA (10 mg/kg) was infused either intravenously (n=8) or intra-arterially (n=8). Control rats (n=8) received intra-arterial infusion of saline. Treatment was monitored by MR perfusion-weighted imaging and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) imaging, and outcome was evaluated by comparing incidence of hemorrhages and lesion volumes of ATP and pH. Results— Clot embolism led to a decline of perfusion-weighted imaging signal intensity in the middle cerebral artery territory to 3 at 7 hours after clot embolism, respectively. Both intravenous and intra-arterial rtPA treatment produced hemorrhagic complications but reduced ATP lesion size to 296.2±136.1 and 370.3±103.7 mm 3 and reduced pH lesion size to 263.3±114.6 and 303.3±103.0 mm 3 , respectively ( P Conclusions— This study documents reduction of injury by rtPA treatment but does not reveal a difference between intra-arterial and intravenous application. Our data do not support an advantage of intra-arterial thrombolysis.

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