The use of a liposomal drug delivery system is a promising strategy for avoiding side effects and enhancing drug efficiency by changing the distribution of the intact drug. We have previously shown that liposomal agents quickly accumulated in an ischemia-reperfusion region and ameliorated cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury when they were injected after reperfusion in transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (t-MCAO) rats. In the present study, we hypothesized that liposomes also act effectively as a drug carrier in the ischemic state, since the integrity of the blood brain barrier is disrupted at an early stage after an ischemic event. To test this hypothesis, the cerebral distribution of fluorescence-labeled liposomes was observed in permanent MCAO (p-MCAO) rats. The liposomes accumulated in the ischemic core and the penumbra region when injected at 1 or 2 h after occlusion. The accumulation in the ischemic core region was clearly greater than that in the penumbra region, despite the cerebral blood perfusion of the core region being substantially reduced. This result suggests that drug delivery to an ischemic region using liposomes is possible even when cerebral blood circulation has not recovered. Because liposomal drug delivery systems have the potential to effectively employ a number of agents that have failed in clinical trials, they may offer an effective strategy for achieving neuroprotection in stroke patients. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.