I'm having an extremely hard time learning distal Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion. I watched a colleague do it and reviewed the JoVE protocol many times, but I struggle to see the MCA sometimes and when I think I've got it, I guess I end up ligating another blood vessel because there is no injury when I do TTC staining. I can locate the MCA successfully when I harvest the mouse, but the mouse's muscle is more opaque than what is in the JoVE video. We also use scissors to cut away the muscle so I was wondering if there is another protocol, preferably with images, that can help me figure out what is wrong.