Behavioral effects of ganglioside treatment in spontaneously hypertensive stroke prone rats
Abstract
The focus of this dissertation was to detail the mortality rates and occurrence of related stroke symptoms in females SHRSP and to determine if GM1 was effective in ameliorating the effects of stroke in these animals. Fifty female Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats-Stroke Prone (SHRSP) rats were randomly assigned to GM1 or saline treatment conditions in which they received 10mg/kg daily. Blood pressure was measured weekly beginning at week seven. All rats were fed Japanese Stroke-Prone Rodent Diet and their drinking water was replaced with a 1% NaCl solution beginning at $7{1\over2}$ weeks of age. GM1 or saline treatment began at $8{1\over2}$ weeks (60 days) of age, as well as collection of daily body weights. Spontaneous activity and performance in tail-hang test was assessed three times per week beginning at 10 weeks of age. At this time the rats were also observed daily for overt symptoms of stroke. The time of death of each animal was also recorded as was the number of days that the animal survived after the onset of stroke. Observations continued until all animals died. The results of this study indicate that females exhibit the symptoms of stroke with a sufficiently high mortality rate that allows them to be included in future studies which use this rat strain. However, GM1 did not reduce mortality or morbidity rates. GM1 reduced hyperactivity in the early stages of the disease but did not prevent the marked decline in behavioral activity observed at later time points. Weight loss was the same in GM1 and saline conditions. GM1 treated animals did not perform differently on the tail hang test, nor did GM1 reduce the number of symptoms observed. These findings suggest that GM1 may be effective in the early stages of the disease, but not in preventing or ameliorating the massive progressive pathology and death associated with this genetic model.
Subject Area
Psychology|Experiments|Surgery
Recommended Citation
Hernandez, Noreen E, "Behavioral effects of ganglioside treatment in spontaneously hypertensive stroke prone rats" (1992). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI9223816.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI9223816
