Abstract
The prostaglandin synthesizing enzyme cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) is up-regulated in the brain of rodents during cerebral ischemia and contributes to ischemic brain injury. This study sought to determine whether COX-2 is also up-regulated in the human brain in the acute stages of cerebral ischemic infarction. Paraffin-embedded sections from patients who died 1-2 days following infarction in the middle cerebral artery territory were processed for COX-2 immunohistochemistry. COX-2 immunoreactivity was observed in infiltrating neutrophils, in vascular cells and in neurons located at the border of the infarct. The data suggest that COX-2 up-regulation is also relevant to cerebral ischemia in humans and raise the possibility that COX-2 reaction products participate in the mechanisms of ischemic injury also in the human brain.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 9-14 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Acta Neuropathologica |
| Volume | 98 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 1999 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Acknowledgements This work was supported by NIH grants NS35806 and NS34179. The excellent editorial assistance of Ms. Karen MacEwan is gratefully acknowledged.
Keywords
- Immunohistochemistry
- Inflammation
- Prostaglandin H2 synthase
- Prostaglandins
- Stroke
