Biochemical and Molecular Biological Assessments of Focal Cerebral Ischemia: Protein

Focal cerebral ischemia induces a complex array of cellular states, which significantly influence and ultimately are controlled by molecular changes. While certainly some of these changes occur at the nucleotide or lipid level, many processes require significant modification of protein expression and/or function. The detection of protein alterations following focal cerebral ischemia has long been studied, but—given the complexity of cell type and protein signaling—recent studies have focused more on modulated protein detection. In this chapter, we discuss the nature of focal cerebral ischemia that impacts protein detection, as well as discuss some further techniques that are often used in the field.