Rodent Models of Vascular Cognitive Impairment

Authors: Yi Yang Shihoko KimuraOhba Jeffrey Thompson Gary A Rosenberg

Publish Date: 2016/08/08

Volume: 7, Issue: 5, Pages: 407-414

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Abstract

Vascular cognitive impairment dementia VCID which is an increasingly important cause of dementia in the elderly lacks effective treatments Many different types of vascular disease are included under the diagnosis of VCID including large vessel disease with multiple strokes and small vessel disease with lacunar infarcts and white matter disease Animal models have been developed to study the multiple forms of VCID Because of its progressive course small vessel disease SVD is thought to be the optimal form of VCID for treatment One theory is that the pathophysiology involves hypoxic hypoperfusion resulting in injury to the white matter and neuronal death Bilateral occlusion of the common carotid arteries BCAO in a normotensive rat which reduces cerebral blood flow induces hypoxia with white matter damage this model has been used to test drugs to block the injury Another model is the spontaneously hypertensive/stroke prone rat SHR/SP Hypertension leads to small vessel disease resulting in progressive damage to the white matter cortex and hippocampus Bilateral carotid artery stenosis BCAS with coils or ameroid constrictors produces a slower development of changes than BCAO avoiding the acute ischemia A few studies have been done with the twoclip twovessel occlusion renal model for induction of hypertension There are benefits and drawbacks to each of these models with the model selected depending on the type of vascular damage that is to be studied This review describes the most commonly used models and the drugs that have been used to reduce the damageStudies are supported by NIH grants RO1 NS045847 Yi Yang has received research grants from NIH and the American Heart Association Gary Rosenberg has received research grants from NIH the USIsraeli Binational Foundation and Bayer Pharmaceutical

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