To study whether transient ischemia is influenced by hyperglycemia, the middle cerebral artery was occluded for 5, 10 and 15 min in normo- and hyperglycemic rats. Five-minute ischemia induced minor lesions in both groups. After 10-min ischemia a significant greater infarct volume was found in hyperglycemia compared with normoglycemia (29 ± 9mm³vs4 ± 4mm³, P < 0.001). Fifteen-minute artery occlusion induced even more damage in both hyper- and normoglycemia (63 ± 20mm³vs13 ± 12mm³, P < 0.006). The lateral part of striatum was infarcted in all hyperglycemic animals exposed to 10 or 15 min of ischemia. In the same area selective neuronal injury occurred in 6 out of 9 normoglycemic animals. The findings show that hyperglycemia increases brain damage during transient ischemia by conversion of selective neuronal injury into cerebral infarction