Immunological Response to Experimental Intracerebral Hemorrhage: Morphological Assessments

The immune system is intimately involved in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) pathophysiology. The ability to evaluate immune system reactions with reproducible and accurate methods is of critical importance. Numerous techniques have been developed to study and evaluate the immune system response to ICH. While some are well established and extensively used, other new assessment techniques continue to develop as a result of technology progress. We present a short comparative summary of existing techniques useful for ICH immunological assessment and introduce detailed protocols of two immunolabeling techniques: immunofluorescence and quantitative infrared fluorescence detection. Quantitative analysis of protein signal intensities and their anatomical distributions are two essential factors in understanding the immune system response to ICH brain injury.