Abstract
Stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP), which were separated from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), have had a high incidence (more than 900) of cerebrovascular lesions (stroke) spontaneously, and are regarded as a model animal for the study of essential hypertension and stroke in man.
The present study was undertaken to analyse the effect of long-term running, using the treadmill with an electroshocker designed by Fujiwara, on the blood pressure, incidence of stroke and average age of death in SHRSP. After the rats lost their ability to continue the running on the treadmill, they were taken in the sloping cage designed by the author in order to exercise as long as they could.
When the load of running was adjusted according as individual coditions of rats, the blood pressure elevation were considerably delayed, and their life span were considerably elongated. The exercise started at six weeks of age seemed to be more effective than that at ten weeks of age. But there was no difference in the incidence of stroke between the running group and the control group in SHRSP.
