Morphological Assessments of Focal Cerebral Ischemia: White Matter Injury

A common type of ischemic stroke, focal cerebral ischemia causes nonselective tissue damage in the ischemic area, including damage to both gray and white matter. White matter is made up of neuronal axons and their surrounding oligodendrocytic myelin sheath, and is susceptible to ischemic injury. The contribution of white matter injury to neurological dysfunction was largely ignored in the past, but its significance has been increasingly noticed in recent years. This chapter introduces the classic methods for studying white matter injury after brain ischemia, including immunohistochemical staining of amyloid precursor protein and myelin basic protein. Tissue preparation, staining procedures, evaluation methods, and alternative methods are discussed.