The effects of occlusion of middle cerebral artery on the morphology of astrocyte in hippocampal formation

Objective: To study the effects of occlusion of middle cerebral artery on the morphology of astrocyte in hippocampal formation in rat. Methods: Immunocytochemistry were used to demonstrate GFAP positive cells in hippocampal formation from the control, sham and model groups, and compared differences of the shape, the positive number and the GFAP expression of astrocytes among three groups. Results: The cell population, cell volume and GFAP expression in hippocampal formation which is far from central ischemic area increased significantly in the model group compared with the control and the sham groups. Conclusions: Astrocyte activation induced by occlusion of middle cerebral artery not only occurs in the central and marginal ischemic areas, but also in the region which is far away from the ischemic region.