Análise da doença e dos modelos de hipertensão em ratos

Abstract

Hypertension is present in a large portion of the population, causing high mortality rates due to damage to target organs and morbidity in those affected. In order to better understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of action of this disease and to develop more effective drugs and therapeutic approaches to stop its evolution, several species of animals have been used to mimic the hypertension that affects humans, being the species Rattus norvegicus (laboratory rat) the one that started to be widely used by research centers around the world. Just as in human hypertension is characterized by dozens of physiological changes that are closely related to the increase in blood pressure, several models that lead to hypertension in rats were developed to better investigate the etiologies of the lesions triggered by the chronic elevation of blood pressure. For this, a review of the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and treatments of hypertension and their correlations with animal models was performed, while the importance of each model for research in the area of physiology and pharmacology of the cardiovascular system and reasons for choosing one model over the others in a laboratory experiment were discussed.