Post-occlusion treatment with BDNF reduces infarct size in a model of permanent occlusion of the middle cerebral artery in rat

In view of the protective effect of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) against metabolic/excitotoxic insults in vitro, we investigated whether BDNF could limit infarct size after permanent occlusion of the middle cerebral artery in rat (MCAO). BDNF was delivered into the territory of the middle cerebral artery via an osmotic mini-pump (1 mu g/h). Infusion of BDNF was started shortly after MCAO, and 24 h later brains were removed for infarct volume determination. Intraoperative and postoperative measurements of physiological variables revealed no differences among vehicle-treated and BDNF-infused animals. However, we found a 33% reduction in total infarct volume in BDNF-treated animals (p<0.05), and a 37% reduction in cortical infarct volume (p<0.05).