INFLUENCE OF NEONATAL FOCAL CEREBRAL HYPOXIA-ISCHEMIA ON CARDIOVASCULAR AND NEUROBEHAVIORAL FUNCTIONS IN ADULT WISTAR RATS

No experimental studies looked at the disturbances appearing after a n eonatal focal cerebral hypoxia-ischemia (HI) when animals become adult s. Using radiotelemetry, we examined the effects of neonatal focal cer ebral HI on blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), locomotor activity ( LA), body temperature (BT) levels and circadian rhythm parameters of u nrestrained adult Wistar rats. At 15 weeks of age, we continuously rec orded the cardiovascular and neurobehavioral parameters of HI (n = 6) and sham-operated (n = 6) rats. In adult rats, HI induced persistent h ypertensive effects associated with alteration in BP circadian rhythms and pronounced decreases in mesor and percent rhythm of LA. HR and BT parameters were not significantly modified. Therefore, our results su ggest that the rat cardiovascular and behavioural circadian control sy stems may involve several structures which present selective vulnerabi lity to early cerebral HI. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.