abstract
- Minocycline reduces reperfusion injury by inhibiting matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and microglia activity after cerebral ischemia. Prior studies of minocycline investigated short-term neuroprotective effects during subacute stage of stroke; however, the late effects of minocycline against early reperfusion injury on neurovascular remodeling are less well studied. We have shown that spontaneous angiogenesis vessels in ischemic brain regions have high blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability due to lack of major tight junction proteins (TJPs) in endothelial cells at three weeks. In the present study, we longitudinally investigated neurological outcome, neurovascular remodeling and microglia/macrophage alternative activation after spontaneous and minocycline-induced stroke recovery. © 2015 Yang et al.; licensee BioMed Central.