End-organ damage due to hypertension: characterization of spontaneously hypertensive rats
High blood pressure may induce end organ damage in different organs like the heart, the kidneys, the brain, and the vascular system with an increase on vascular wall thickness and arterial stiffness.
Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) represent a model of hypertension and vascular brain injury. Several studies have shown that cerebrovascular changes in SHR may mimic brain vascular disorders of hypertensive individuals. Moreover, cardiovascular, and renal alterations are typical events in these rats. Brain areas were collected for Western blot and immunohistochemical analysis of neuronal, glial, blood brain barrier (BBB) and inflammatory markers. Immunochemical and immunohistochemical techniques were also applied on heart, kidney, and gastrointestinal tracts to evaluate morphological alterations and inflammatory processes.
Animal models were used to evaluate the possible protective effects of drugs or nutraceutical compounds. Cholinergic enhancing drugs and antioxidant compounds were tested in SHR, to evaluate the protective actions against the cerebral alterations. Treatment with choline alphoscerate a cholinergic precursor enhancing neurotransmission and (+)-thioctic acid with antioxidant properties, alone or in association, could induce neuroprotection in SHR.
Keywords - ENGLISH
hypertension, organdamage, neuroinflammation
Active participants in the research line (PI last author or *)
Ilenia Martinelli; Vincenzo Bellitto; Daniele Tomassoni
External Collaborations
Section of Human Anatomy, School of Medicinal and Health Products Sciences, University of Camerino.
Pillar
Human Health
Macroareas in Human Health
Biology of health and disease
Email Address
daniele.tomassoni@unicam.it
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