Stroke is one of the common causes of death and disability in the world. The intraluminal middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R) model is a "gold standard" in surgical ischemic stroke models. Here, we optimized the procedure of this model by ligating on external carotid artery (ECA) stump and two ligatures prepared on internal carotid artery, which could improve the success and survival rate in mice. The results show that ECA approach was superior to common carotid artery approach. Meanwhile, we found that the exposure of pterygopalatine artery was not an essential step for MCAO/R model in mice.
Keywords: animal model; ischemia stroke; mice; middle cerebral artery occlusion.