Abstract
Objective: The spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) is the most widely studied animal model of essential hypertension. The Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) were originally bred as normotensive controls for the SHR, while the Wistar (WIS) strain is generally the most popular in research. The objective of the study was to check whether Wistar could be used as controls for SHR by comparing blood pressure levels in three groups of animals. Design and method: Adult male WIS (n = 5), WKY (n = 6), and SH (n = 4) rats, 20th week of age, were used. The animals were housed in the Animal Research Center of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences under permission No. G2–137. They were kept in collective cages and allocated in a controlled environment with a light/dark cycle (12/12 h), the temperature at 22 ± 2C, and had free access to food and water. Following animal sedation, heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were measured using the on-invasive method of tail-cuff (AD Instruments IN125/R NIBP system, UK and LabChart software). Each measurement was performed ten times, and the median value was used. All measurements were performed by the same researcher in a quiet environment. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) was calculated by the following equation: DBP+1/3(SBP-DBP). The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine group differences. The Mann-Whitney test was used for two groups comparisons. Results: SHR BP values were highest, WKY - in the middle, and WIS - the lowest. Measured parameters differed statistically significantly between the three rat groups (p < 0.05) (Table 1). The two groups comparison revealed that all parameters in SHR had statistically significant differences between the WKY as well as WIS (p < 0.05), except HR in WIS. HR did not differ between SHR and WIS rats (p = 0.190). Comparing WKY and WIS groups, there was no significant difference between SBP (p = 0.284), DBP (p = 0.524), MAP (p = 0.354), except HR, which was significantly higher in WIS (p = 0.002). Conclusions: Adult spontaneously hypertensive rats have significant arterial hypertension. Blood pressure measurements of Wistar-Kyoto and Wistar rats do not differ, so both of them can be used as controls for hypertensive rats.
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