Effects of aging on the structural and permeability characteristics of cerebrovasculature in normotensive and hypertensive strains of rats

This study demonstrates that markedly different patterns of age-related changes in blood pressure and body weight occur among normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). In addition, a variety of age-related structural alterations occurred...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta neuropathologica 1980, Vol.51 (1), p.1-13
Main Authors: Knox, C A, Yates, R D, Chen, I, Klara, P M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Factors
Animals
Arterioles - pathology
Blood Pressure
Blood-Brain Barrier
Body Weight
Capillaries - pathology
Capillary Permeability
Cerebral Cortex - blood supply
Cerebrovascular Circulation
Frontal Lobe - blood supply
Hypertension - pathology
Macrophages - pathology
Muscle, Smooth - pathology
Rats
Venules - pathology
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Summary:This study demonstrates that markedly different patterns of age-related changes in blood pressure and body weight occur among normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). In addition, a variety of age-related structural alterations occurred in the walls of arterioles, capillaries, and venules of the frontal cortex. These changes include: (1) an increase in the thickness of the vascular wall by deposits of collagen and basal lamina which, in some cases, extended into the surrounding neuropil; (2) the presence of a flocculent material in the adventitia of intracerebral arterioles; (3) vesicular inclusions in perivascular macrophages, pericytes and smooth muscle cells which were labelled with i.v. administered horseradish peroxidase (HRP); (4) fragmentation of smooth muscle cells; and (5) accumulation of lipofuscin-like pigments in perivascular glial processes. The hypertensive rats exhibited these changes, but they were more advanced and more widely distributed throughout the cerebral cortex. The aged hypertensive rats occasionally had large bundles of 10 nm diameter, intermediate filaments in the endothelial cells. Whereas no change in blood-brain barrier permeability to HRP was observed in the aged normotensive rats, all age groups of the hypertensive rats exhibited increased permeability to HRP in the initial segment of penetrating arterioles in laminae I and II of the cerebral cortex.
ISSN:0001-6322
1432-0533
DOI:10.1007/BF00688844