Inducing stroke in aged, hypertensive, diabetic rats

Animal models of ischemic stroke often neglect comorbidities common in patients. This study shows the feasibility of inducing stroke by 2 h of thread occlusion of the middle cerebral artery in aged (56 week old) spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) with both acute (2 weeks) and chronic (36 weeks) diabetes. After modifying the streptozotocin dosing regimen to ensure that old SHRs survived the induction of diabetes, few died after induction of stroke. Induction of stroke is feasible in rats with multiple comorbidities. Inclusion of such comorbid animals may improve translation from the research laboratory to the clinic. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism (2010) 30, 729-733; doi:10.1038/jcbfm.2009.273; published online 13 January 2010