The mechanism by which brief episodes of cerebral ischemia confer protection (tolerance) against subsequent prolonged ischemic challenges remains unclear, but may involve upregulation of cell injury repair capability. The mitochondrion is a key site for the regulation of cell death pathways, and damage to mitochondrial genes has been linked to a number of neurologic diseases and aging. Therefore, the authors examined the response of the DNA base excision repair (BER) pathway in rat brain mitochondria after either brief (tolerance-inducing) or prolonged (injury-producing) focal cerebral ischemia. Brief (30-minute) middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) induced mild oxidative mitochondrial DNA damage and initiated a prolonged (up to 72-hour) activation above control levels of the principal enzymes of the mitochondrial BER pathway, including uracil DNA glycosylase, apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) endonuclease, DNA polymerase-gamma, and DNA ligase. In contrast, prolonged (100-minute MCAO) ischemia induced more substantial mitochondrial oxidative DNA damage whereas elevation of BER activity was transient (approximately 1 hour), declining to less than control levels over the course of 4 to 72 hours. These data reveal the differences in BER capacity after brief or prolonged ischemia, which may contribute to the neuron's ability to resist subsequent ischemic insults.