INDIRECT MEASURES OF NEUROPROTECTION ARE PARAMETERS TO AVOID: EXAMPLES FROM RESEARCH ON NEONATAL RAT HYPOXIA-ISCHEMIA

Abstract

The use of indirect measures of neuronal injury or neuroprotection, such as brain weight or the neuronal density of neurons, can lead to misinterpretations of biological processes. The use of modern stereological methods to directly measure the absolute number of surviving neurons generally yields more reliable conclusions. The aim of this review is to provide some worked examples of this principle. The worked examples are obtained from research completed over the past 13 years on the investigation of potential neuroprotective therapies for moderate brain injury after neonatal hypoxia-ischemia in the rat.

Keywords

• absolute neuronal number
• brain weight
• Cavalieri’s method
• neuronal density
• optical disector
• stereology