Cerebral Ischemia and Reperfusion Injury: A Brief Review

Cerebral injury, whether due to cardiac arrest, stroke, air embolism, head trauma, asphyxiation or cerebral edema, is a major medical challenge. The understanding of the basic physiology and biochemistry of brain damage helps lay a foundation for informed diagnosis and treatment, as well as the development of future intervention and treatment strategies. It is hoped that the review that follows will provide a useful collection of facts and concepts that can be integrated into a working understanding of brain injury induced by a compromised oxygen supply. This review is the result of an extensive literature search and compilation of information on ischemia and reperfusion injury. This information was used, in part, for the preparation and construction of a research preproposal on the same subject matter.