To establish a new photomacrographic analysis of morphological changes on brain surface to evaluate blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption.Permanent focal cerebral ischemia was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in mice. Brains were removed 10 min, 0.5, 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h after MCAO. The whole brains and brain slices were photographed by a digital camera. BBB disruption was evaluated by hemorrhage and traced Evans blue (EB) on the brain surface. Fluoremetric quantitation of EB and water content in the brains were also performed at various time points.Photomacrographic morphological analysis showed that hemorrhage and traced EB on the surface of the brains significantly increased from 3 h after focal cerebral ischemia,which were correlated to the results in the brain slices. EB content in the ischemic hemispheres was significantly increased from 0.5 h after MCAO, and water content was increased from 1 h after MCAO.Photomacrographic measurement is a simple and useful method for evaluating BBB disruption semi-quantitatively, and can detect BBB disruption earlier after focal cerebral ischemia in mice.
