Expression data from the cortex after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) between young and aged rats

Elderly patients suffer more brain damage in comparison with young patients from the same ischemic stroke. In that regard, it is imperative to investigate the factors responsible for decreased resistance to anti-ischemic/hypoxic injury in the aged brain. We conducted analysis of the gene expression pattern on our samples (Transient MCAO for 60 minutes established acute ischemic stroke followed by 3 days reperfusion) by the Affymetrix rat 230 2.0 chip. First, differences between MCAO-subjected young and aged rats were determined, and then differential expression between sham-operated young and aged rats was then subtracted. Thus, differentially expressed genes between MCAO-subjected young and aged rats obtained using the above calculation were only due to the ischemia model.