Fig. 6. Improvement of neurologic outcome by isoflurane postconditioning (Iso) after transient right middle cerebral arterial occlusion (MCAO). MCAO was for 90 min and isoflurane postconditioning was for 60 min started at the onset of reperfusion. (A ) Percentage of infarct volume in ipsilateral hemisphere volume. Results are mean ± SD (n = 7 for the MCAO only group and n = 8 for the MCAO plus isoflurane postconditioning group). (B ) The performance on rotarod. Rats were tested before and 24 h after the MCAO, and the speed–latency index ratios of these two tests are presented. Results are mean ± SD (n = 7 for the MCAO only group and n = 8 for the MCAO plus isoflurane postconditioning group). (C ) Neurologic deficit scores that were evaluated immediately before the animals were killed for the assessment of infarct sizes (data are presented in A ) are shown. Each circle represents the score for a single rat. A horizontal bar indicates the mean value for each group. * P < 0.05 compared with the corresponding MCAO only group.