Photothrombotic Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats: Influence of Substrain, Gender, and Distal Middle Cerebral Artery Patterns on Infarct Size

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Abstract
Background and Purpose—To analyze the effects of substrain and gender differences in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and distal middle cerebral artery (MCA) branching patterns on infarct size, we compared infarct volumes produced by photothrombotic distal MCA occlusion using SHR/Kyushu and SHR/Izumo (Izm). Methods—Twenty-four male and 8 female SHR/Kyushu, 15 male and 5 female SHR/Izm, and 6 male Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY)/Izm (5 to 7 months old) were subjected to photothrombotic distal MCA occlusion, and infarct volumes were determined. Results—Although blood pressure levels were essentially the same between the two substrains of hypertensive rats, infarct volumes were significantly larger in the SHR/Kyushu substrain than in SHR/Izm of either sex (P<0.001); infarct volumes in male and female SHR/Kyushu were 83.8±11.7 and 58.5±9.2 mm3, and those in male and female SHR/Izm were 61.5±10.7 and 34.8±7.9 mm3, respectively (values are mean±SD). Male SHR/Kyushu that had simple Y-shaped MCA showed smaller infar...