Memory deficit accompanying cerebral neurodegeneration after stroke in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP).

Memory performances of SHRSP with chronic stroke were examined on the three-panel runway task in addition to the histological evaluation and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. After recovery from the neurological symptoms with stroke. SHRSP were subjected to acquisition training on the memory tasks, and they exhibited both a delay and a persistent impairment of acquisition on the memory tasks, compared to the non-stroke SHRSP. T2-weighted MRI with the stroke SHRSP suggested marked edematous formation in the cortex, caudate putamen and/or thalamus, preferentially in the frontal and/or occipital cortex. The histological evaluation showed edematous degeneration such as edema, gliosis and cyst preferentially in the cortex, but no degeneration in the hippocampus. Thus, SHRSP with chronic stroke was found to exhibit impairment of learning and memory, which may be due to the cortical edematous degeneration.