Figure 1.Coronal sections representing the extent of a typical strokeThough this was a somewhat surprising finding, we note that the cytosine extension assay measures global net changes in DNA methylation and does not provide us with the locus-specific DNA methylation details. Thus, we cannot exclude the possibility that there still may be loci that have lost or gained DNA methylation in the tissues of stroked animals. Indeed, recently it has been shown that alterations in DNA methylation in cancer cells occur in defined regions, suggesting localized, and not random, global deregulation of DNA methylation [27-28]. A detailed analysis of locus-specific DNA methylation changes may be needed to investigate the precise gene and locus-specific nature of DNA methylation changes.
