Motor and cognitive deficits in mice bred to have low or high blood pressure

Richard E. Hartman, Joel E. Kamper, Ravi Goyal, John M. Stewart, Lawrence D. Longo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Deviations from normal blood pressure can lead to a number of physiological and behavioral complications. We tested the hypothesis that hyper- or hypotension is associated with significant differences in motor activity and coordination, anxiety levels, and spatial learning and memory in male and female mice. Compared to normotensive control mice, hypertensive mice were hyperactive and their performance was significantly worse on the rotarod (males only), cued learning (males only), spatial learning/re-learning, and spatial memory. Hypotensive mice of both genders swam more slowly and performed even worse than hypertensive mice on the rotarod, cued learning, spatial learning/re-learning, and spatial memory tasks. Across all phenotypes, females were generally more active than males in the open field and exhibited more anxiety-like behaviors in the elevated zero maze. Alterations in hemodynamics and/or neurovascular unit function may account for the observed behavioral changes in the hypo- and hypertensive mice.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1092-1097
Number of pages6
JournalPhysiology and Behavior
Volume105
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 28 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Behavior
  • Gender
  • Hypertension
  • Hypotension
  • Mouse
  • Phenotype

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Behavioral Neuroscience

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Motor and cognitive deficits in mice bred to have low or high blood pressure'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this