Choice of diet impacts the incidence of stroke-related symptoms in the spontaneously hypertensive stroke-prone rat model.
The spontaneously hypertensive stroke-prone (SHRSP) rat is a commonly used model of cerebrovascular disease and hypertension. SHRSP rats have been shown to develop stroke-related symptoms (SRS) by age 14 weeks when fed a purified diet, such as AIN-93G, supplemented with 1% NaCl. We conducted a pathology pilot study to compare the incidence of SRS in SHRSP rats fed either AIN-93G (with 1% NaCl in drinking water) or commercially available rat chow (with 4% NaCl in the diet), starting at 8 weeks of age. These results prompted us to analyze data from 5 earlier feeding trials using SHRSP rats. Overall, we found that SHRSP rats fed AIN-93G purified diet for 8 or 17 weeks did not demonstrate SRS (n = 18), whereas all SHRSP rats fed lab chow exhibited SRS at age 15.1 ± 0.6 weeks (n = 23). In addition, SHRSP rats fed lab chow had decreased mass gain starting at age 13 weeks, as well as decreased feed efficiencies after the first 5 weeks of feeding (p < 0.05). In conclusion, our data suggest that diet composition is a major contributor to the onset of stroke in SHRSP rats and that diet choice should be critically evaluated based on endpoint measures in the SHRSP model.
Department of Biology, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PEI C1A 4P3, Canada.
Jennifer E
JE
Slemmer
Kevin S
KS
Shaughnessy
Adam P
AP
Scanlan
Marva I
MI
Sweeney
Katherine T
KT
Gottschall-Pass
D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging; D000821:Animal Feed / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure; D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004435:Eating; D023381:Endpoint Determination; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015430:Weight Gain