Anterior circulation model of subarachnoid hemorrhage in mice.

Abstract

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) remains one of the most morbid subtypes of stroke around the world and has been the focus of hemorrhagic stroke research for longer than five decades. Animal models have been instrumental in shaping the progress and advancement of SAH research, particularly models that allow for transgenic manipulation. The anterior circulation mouse model provides the research community with a rodent model that depicts very similar clinical findings of SAH; from the location of the hemorrhages to the secondary complications that arise after the hemorrhagic insult. The model allows for the recreation of clinically relevant findings such as large vessel vasospasm, oxidative stress, microcirculatory spasm and microthrombosis, and delayed neuronal injury - all of which appear in human cases of SAH. The model is also not technically demanding, is highly reproducible, and allows for an array of transgenic manipulation, which is essential for mechanistic investigations of the pathogenesis of SAH. The anterior circulation mouse model of SAH is one of a few models that are currently used in mice, and provides the research community with a relatively easy, reliable, and clinically relevant model of SAH - one that could be effectively be used to test for early brain injury (EBI) and delayed neurological injury after SAH.