STROKE-PRONE RENOVASCULAR HYPERTENSIVE RATS

Purpose To summarized the methods for establishment, characteristics o f vascular lesions in brain and heart and the application of stroke-pr one renovascular hypertensive rats (RHRSP). Data sources and methods M ost published original articles about RHRSP in our laboratory were rev iewed. Results After the renal arteries were constricted bilaterally w ith ring-shape silver clips, the stroke-prone renovascular hypertensiv e rats were established. Hypertension was produced in all RHRSP (100%) . The peak of blood pressure in RHRSP reached 29.1 +/- 3.0 kPa. The le sions of cerebral arteries and arterioles and the damage of cerebral c apillary structure by hypertension were observed in the RHRSP. The inc idence of spontaneous stroke was 56.4% within 40 weeks after the renal artery constriction. Left ventricular hypertrophy and small coronary arterial lesions in myocardium were discovered in all RHRSP. Myocardia l infarction occurred spontaneously in 41.8% of RHRSP. The animal mode ls have been used for the studies on mechanisms of stroke and myocardi al infarction. Conclusions Because the vascular lesions in cerebrum an d heart in RHRSP are similar to that in human beings with hypertension , RHRSP can be used in the studies on mechanisms of hypertensive arter iosclerotic stroke and cardiac lesions and on verifying the effects of different medications to complications of hypertension, and the resul ts might be more reliable than that in animal models without hypertens ion.