Antihypertensive drugs in the stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat.

The stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR-SP) is an experimental model that has been widely used to investigate the potential preventive effects vs stroke and mortality of numerous antihypertensive agents. Among the latter, angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II AT1-receptor blockers and calcium antagonists have proven to be very effective. The mechanisms involved in their beneficial effects include limitation of the age-related alterations of large cerebral arteries' functional parameters, prevention of fibrinoid necrosis formation in cerebral arterioles and, to a lesser extent, limitation of the blood pressure rise.