In the present immunocytochemical study, we investigated the mechanism of Fos protein induction and the regional distribution of the Fos protein in brains of spontaneously hypertensive rats subjected to 2 h of permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Rats were administered either saline or a glutamate receptor antagonist; the non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 or the AMPA receptor antagonist NBQX which are known to be able to reduce infarct size in MCA occluded rats. The saline treated rats showed presence of Fos protein in nerve cell nuclei throughout the cortical and striatal infarct borderzone, but no staining in the infarct core or contralateral hemisphere. MK-801 almost totally abolished this expression of Fos protein whereas NBQX had no significant effect on Fos protein expression. It is suggested that the Fos protein induction is due to repeated spreading depressions mediated by NMDA receptors in the infarct borderzone, and that Fos protein due to its persistence in the tissue can be used as a histochemical marker of borderzone tissue at risk for eventually becoming recruited in the infarct.