To begin, wipe the heating surgery board with 75%ethanol and set the temperature to 37 degrees Celsius. Place the anesthetized mouse in a right lateral position on the board with the head positioned away. To protect the cornea from drying, apply eye ointment.
After shaving the fur from the left orbit to the left ear canal, use a depilatory cream to remove the remaining fur. Disinfect the surgical area three times with povidone iodine and 75%ethanol. Perform a toe-pinch assessment.
After making a vertical incision between the left orbit and the left ear canal, retract the soft skin tissue to expose the temporal muscle. Using straight micro forceps, separate the apical and dorsal segments of the temporal muscle from the skull. Identify the Y-shaped bifurcation of the middle cerebral artery, or MCA, beneath the temporal bone.
Then using an electric cranial drill, thin out the skull to make a bone window until the dura mater becomes visible. Remove the dura mater above the MCA with curved micro forceps. Using electric coagulation forceps, coagulate the artery at the site's proximal and distal to the bifurcation.
Monitor the blood flow of the left MCA cortical branch in a laser speckle blood-flow meter. Then suture the muscle and the skin separately with polyglycolic acid sutures, and apply diclofenac sodium gel and mupirocin ointment to the skin incision. Place the mouse in a recovery chamber.
