Evaluating Cortical Lesion Volume

Immediately following the terminal procedure, the rats were injected with (Beuthanasia-D) and transcardially perfused with 0.1M saline solution with heparin and lidocaine followed by 4% paraformaldehyde. The brains were extracted, gelatin embedded, and sectioned coronally at a thickness of 50-μm using a freezing, sliding microtome. The sections were mounted on slides and stained with cresyl violet. An example of coronal hemisections corresponding to CFA are shown with examples of the small, subtotal lesions generated in these experiments is shown in Figure 2. Sections were analyzed under a light microscope (Zeiss AxioImager M2) and sampled at 1.2-mm intervals. Hemispheric volume through the sensorimotor cortex was estimated using the Cavalieri method, labelling the region of interest, which was drawn around gaps and non-viable tissue in the injured cortex to outline the lesion area, with markers (Figure 2B).