Role of a molecular variant of rat atrial natriuretic Peptide gene in vascular remodeling.

Previous studies in a hypertensive animal model of stroke and in humans showed that mutations of the atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) gene are associated with increased risk of stroke. To elucidate the vascular disease mechanisms that result from structural modifications of the ANP gene, we investigated a coding mutation of the ANP gene in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRsp). This mutation leads to a Gly/Ser transposition in the prosegment of ANP.

A transgenic rat expressing human APP with the Swedish Alzheimer's disease mutation.

In recent years, transgenic mice have become valuable tools for studying mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease (AD). With the aim of developing an animal model better for memory and neurobehavioural testing, we have generated a transgenic rat model of AD. These animals express human amyloid precursor protein (APP) containing the Swedish AD mutation.

Reciprocal congenic lines for a major stroke QTL on rat chromosome 1.

We previously identified a quantitative trait locus (QTL) for stroke proneness between the kallikrein (Klk) and Mt1pa markers on rat chromosome 1. To gain functional insights, we constructed congenic strains by introgressing either the whole or selected chromosomal segments from the stroke-prone (SHRsp) onto the stroke-resistant (SHRsr) spontaneously hypertensive rat genome and vice versa. The phenotype was the latency to develop stroke under a Japanese high-salt, low-potassium diet for 3 mo [known as Japanese diet (JD)].