We compared the effects of glucose injection with those of saline or mannitol on ischemic brain damage and brain water content in a four-vessel occlusion (4-VO) rat model, which simultaneously causes severe forebrain ischemia and moderate hindbrain ischemia. Glucose given before onset of ischemia was followed by severe brain injury, with necrosis of the majority of neocortical neurons and glia, substantial neuronal damage throughout the remainder of forebrain, and severe brain edema. By comparison, saline injection before forebrain ischemia resulted in only scattered ischemic damage confined to neurons and no change in the brain water content. Mannitol injection before 4-VO or D-glucose injection during or after 4-VO produced no greater forebrain damage than did the saline injection. Morphologic damage in the cerebellum, however, was increased by D-glucose injection given either before or during 4-VO. The results demonstrate that hyperglycemia before severe brain ischemia or during moderate ischemia markedly augments morphologic brain damage.