Review ArticleDiabetic aggravation of stroke and animal models

•Cerebral ischemia produces profound injury in diabetics.•Diabetes is an important comorbidity of cerebral ischemia.•It is important to test new therapies of cerebral ischemia in models of diabetes.•Available models of diabetes and cerebral ischemia are described.

Cerebral ischemia in diabetics results in severe brain damage. Different animal models of cerebral ischemia have been used to study the aggravation of ischemic brain damage in the diabetic condition. Since different disease conditions such as diabetes differently affect outcome following cerebral ischemia, the Stroke Therapy Academic Industry Roundtable (STAIR) guidelines recommends use of diseased animals for evaluating neuroprotective therapies targeted to reduce cerebral ischemic damage. The goal of this review is to discuss the technicalities and pros/cons of various animal models of cerebral ischemia currently being employed to study diabetes-related ischemic brain damage. The rational use of such animal systems in studying the disease condition may better help evaluate novel therapeutic approaches for diabetes related exacerbation of ischemic brain damage.