Journal article
Behavioral correlates of spontaneous hypertension
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, Vol.5(4), pp.463-471
1981
DOI: 10.1016/0149-7634(81)90016-6
PMID: 7033843
Abstract
In addition to reviewing behavioral research which has used Okamoto's spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats, methodological and theoretical issues raised by the use of a genetically selected strain as a model of hypertension are discussed. Behavioral research in which SHR rats have been compared with normotensive strains suggests several consistent behavioral characteristics of SHR rats. Spontaneously hypertensive rats are reported to be more active and to show less habituation to repeated testing when placed in a novel environment. In addition, SHR rats respond to a variety of noxious stimuli with high levels of behavioral and physiological arousal. While SHR rats have also been reported to be more aggressive and to learn more rapidly in active avoidance situations than do normotensive controls, interpretation of these differences is complicated by basal differences both in activity level and reactivity to stimulation. Controls used in research with SHR rats include both the foundation strain from which SHR were bred and animals in which hypertension has been experimentally induced. Inclusion of this latter control group provides a means of distinguishing behaviors which are consistently associatted with hypertension of a variety of origins from relationships only observed in SHR rats. Demonstrating an association between behavior and high blood pressure is only the first step in understanding the source of the covariation. Genetic and developmental analyses are necessary to distinguish among (1) a common genetic etiology of hypertension and the behavioral characteristic, (2) a sequential dependence between the development of hypertension and the behavioral characteristic or vice versa; and (3) random fixation at the time of selection for hypertension. While no definitive data are available to argue for a pleiotropic relationship (a common genetic etiology) between the behavioral characteristics of SHR rats and their hypertension, a sequential dependence between the amount of environmental stimulation during the “prehypertensive phase” and the level of adult blood pressure is suggested by two investigations.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Behavioral correlates of spontaneous hypertension
- Creators
- Diane C Tucker - Department of Psychology, Neural and Behavioral Sciences Program, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USAAlan Kim Johnson - Department of Psychology, Neural and Behavioral Sciences Program, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, Vol.5(4), pp.463-471
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- DOI
- 10.1016/0149-7634(81)90016-6
- PMID
- 7033843
- ISSN
- 0149-7634
- eISSN
- 1873-7528
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 1981
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences; Neuroscience and Pharmacology; Health and Human Physiology
- Record Identifier
- 9984213422302771
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