Gerbils were treated with AS601245 40, 60, and 80 mg/kg administered as pretreatment (1 h before and 24 h after 5 min of ischemia) or post-treatment (15 min and 24 h after 5 min of ischemia).

The human leukemia cell lines U-937 (promonocytic) and NB4 (acute promyelocytic), and Bcl-2-transfected U-937 cells, were routinely grown in RPMI 1640 supplemented with 10% (v/v) heat-inactivated calf serum, 0.2% sodium bicarbonate and antibiotics in a humidified 5% CO2 atmosphere at 37C. For experiments, 16–24 h before the initiation of the treatments the cell concentration was adjusted at 10^5 cells/ml. Stock solutions of PD98059 (20 mM), AS601245 (20 mM), LY294002 (20 mM), were prepared in dimethyl sulfoxide. All these solutions were stored at -20C. Cells were treated with 2.5mkM of AS601245 for 24h.