Changes in ambulation and drinking behavior related to stroke in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Abstract

SUMMARY In order to elucidate the behavioral changes related to stroke, ambulatory activity and water drinking were observed in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP). Age matched male SHRSP and Wistar Kyoto rats (WKY) were subjected to a 12 hour light and dark alternation cycle. Ambulation and drinking activity counts were determined simultaneously with an Ambulo-Drinkometer. Before stroke, ambulation and drinking activity counts in the dark phase (82%) were higher than those in the light phase (18%). Both parameters were well synchronized with the light and dark alternation cycle. With aging, daily ambulation decreased while daily drinking activity increased in SHRSP and WKY. Daily ambulation and drinking activity in 15 and 30 week old SHRSP were greater than those of WKY. It was demonstrated with an Ambulo-Drinkometer that SHRSP undergo specific behavioral changes before the onset of stroke. For instance, the 40-60 week old SHRSP showed significant individual variation in both ambulation and drinking activity. This desynchronization with the light and dark alternation cycle was followed by stroke. Twenty seven autopsies showed 11 cerebral infarctions, 10 cerebral hemorrhage and 6 cerebral hemorrhage with infarctions to be the causes of death. Stroke Vol 16, No 1, 1985 STROKES IN HUMANS occur abruptly due to underlying diseases including essential hypertension and cerebral artery sclerosis.' A retrospective analysis of stroke patients from the literature 2 -3 reveals that approximately 75% of the patients demonstrated cerebral infarctions and 11 % demonstrated cerebral hemorrhages. The lethal course of stroke in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP) established by Okamoto et al 4 coincides well with the lethal course of patients with cerebrovascular lesions.5 " 7 Yamori et al 5 has classified stroke-related behavioral changes in SHRSP from a symptomatical point of view. No reports are available in the literature, however, concerning the behavior of SHRSP during their entire life span. In order to identify prodromes of stroke, the present study was carried out to observe the behavioral pattern changes throughout the SHRSP life span (including the development period of hypertension, the onset of stroke and death). Thus, a chronobiological analysis of the behavioral changes in SHRSP was performed. MethodsWe used SHRSP and WKY donated by Prof. Dr. Okamoto, Department of Pathology, Kinki University School of Medicine. Age-matched male SHRSP and male WKY were subjected to a 12 hour light (L) and dark (D) alternation cycle (LD). Illumination was provided by fluorescent light (100 Lux). Room temperature was maintained at 22 ± 2°C throughout the experiment. Rats were fed a regular diet

Altered Fatty Acid Profile in the Liver and Serum of Stroke-Prone Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats: Reduced Proportion of cis-Vaccenic Acid

“…SHRSP also exhibit behavioral abnormalities including increased ambulatory activity and disrupted circadian rhythms; these behavioral abnormalities are considered to correspond to the delirium state observed in patients with dementia after cerebrovascular accidents 8 . On the one hand, SHRSP are hyper-responders to cholesterol feeding and easily develop hyperlipidemia and arterial fat deposition 9 .…”

Cerebral small vessel endothelial structural changes predate hypertension in stroke‐prone spontaneously hypertensive rats: a blinded, controlled immunohistochemical study of 5‐ to 21‐week‐old rats

“…It develops progressive hypertension starting at 6 weeks of age, steadily increasing until a high (or malignant) level by 12 weeks of age [19]. By 20 weeks, SHRSP display stroke‐like symptoms including circling, drooling and limb weakness [20]. Cerebral pathology includes a range of cerebral parenchymal damage including microinfarcts, microhaemorrhage and white matter lesions.…”

Brain sites of movement disorder: Genetic and environmental agents in neurodevelopmental perturbations

“…Furthermore, as with the ADHD condition, SHRs are afflicted by DA-system abnormalities, such as irregularities in DA release (Tsuda et al, 1991;Russell et al, 1995) and elevations of the DAT density (Watanabe et al, 1997). It appears that the SHRSPs display even higher levels of motor activity and greater aggressive behaviour than the SHRs (Togashi et al, 1982;Minami et al, 1985). Nevertheless, despite the utility of the SHR model, there are several reasons to consider too a different strain, the stroke-prone SHR (SHRSP) rat strain, that was derived from certain SHR sub-strains some time ago (Okamoto et al, 1974).…”