Figure 1

Timeline of experiments and changes to Bax/Bcl2 ratios in ischemic cortex. (a) Experimental timeline of Sham + MCAO and IPC + MCAO. IPC was induced by three episodes of 1 min BCCAO with 5 min intervals (n = 6). (b) Three hours after reperfusion, the ipsilateral cortex was harvested from MCAO-treated mouse brain, and total RNA was extracted. Bax and Bcl2 mRNA expression was determined by RT-qPCR. Data are represented as mean ± standard deviation (n = 6). Statistical analyses were performed using a one-way analysis of variance and Dunnett’s multiple comparison post-hoc test for comparing the control group (*) or IPC + MCAO group (#) to the other two groups (* = p < 0.05, *** = p < 0.001, # = p < 0.05, ### = p < 0.001). (c) Cleaved caspase-3 and BCL2 protein expression was assessed using Western-blot analyses. Values from densitometric analyses are shown after normalization to α-tubulin values from controls. Data are mean ± standard deviation (n = 6). Statistical analyses were performed using t-tests (* = p < 0.05, *** = p < 0.001). Full-length blots are presented in Supplementary Fig. 1. Abbreviations: Bax, Bcl2 associated X; Bcl2, B-cell lymphoma 2; MCAO, transient middle cerebral artery occlusion; IPC, ischemic preconditioning; BCCAO, bilateral common carotid artery occlusion; RNA, ribonucleic acid; mRNA, messenger ribonucleic acid; RT-qPCR, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction.