Inadequate food and water intake determine mortality following stroke in mice

J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2017 Jun;37(6):2084-2097. doi: 10.1177/0271678X16660986. Epub 2016 Jan 1.

Abstract

Experimental stroke models producing clinically relevant functional deficits are often associated with high mortality. Because the mechanisms that underlie post-stroke mortality are largely unknown, results obtained using these models are often difficult to interpret, thereby limiting their translational potential. Given that specific forms of post-stroke care reduce mortality in patients, we hypothesized that inadequate food and water intake may underlie mortality following experimental stroke. C57BL/6 mice were subjected to 1 h of intraluminal filament middle cerebral artery occlusion. Nutritional support beginning on the second day after filament middle cerebral artery occlusion reduced the 14-day mortality rate from 59% to 15%. The surviving mice in the post-stroke support group had the same infarct size as non-surviving control mice, suggesting that post-stroke care was not neuroprotective and that inadequate food and/or water intake are the main reasons for filament middle cerebral artery occlusion-induced mortality. This notion was supported by the presence of significant hypoglycemia, ketonemia, and dehydration in control mice. Taken together, these data suggest that post-filament middle cerebral artery occlusion mortality in mice is not primarily caused by ischemic brain damage, but secondarily by inadequate food and/or water intake. Thus, providing nutritional support following filament middle cerebral artery occlusion greatly minimizes mortality bias and allows the study of long-term morphological and functional sequelae of stroke in mice.

Keywords: chronic stroke model; filament middle cerebral artery occlusion; mortality; stroke care; translational medicine.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Drinking / physiology*
  • Eating / physiology*
  • Male
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Nutritional Support*
  • Stroke / physiopathology*
  • Stroke / therapy*
  • Survival Analysis