Anticardiolipin antibodies in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), stroke-prone SHR and normal Wistar rats

1. Anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA) can be detected in the serum of patient s with autoimmune disturbances, ischaemic heart disease, myocardial infarct ion, neurological disorders and other medical conditions. Elevated values o f these autoantibodies can be associated with recurrent fetal loss, arteria l and venous thrombosis and thrombocytopenia, 2. In the present study, we investigated the presence of ACA in three rat s trains, namely normal Wistar rats (WR), spontaneously hypertensive rats Oka moto-Aoki (SHR) and stroke-prone SHR (SHRSP), All animals were examined at four ages: 1, 4, 10 and 12 months of age. Anticardiolipin antibodies were d etermined by ELISA, 3. Anticardiolipin antibody levels in normal WR, which were used as control s, were lowest at 1 month and increased significantly from the 4th month on . At the prehypertensive age (1 month), ACA levels in SHR and SHRSP were si gnificantly higher compared with control WR, decreased with age and were si gnificantly lon er at 3, 10 and 12 months compared with age-matched WR. 4. These differences may be a result of immunological disorders in SHR.