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Experimental dissociation of behavioral and cardiovascular outcome in the borderline hypertensive rat
R J Viken1, A K Johnson, B Murray
1Department of Psychology, Indiana University, Bloomington 47405.
Abstract:
F1 Offspring of hypertensive and normotensive rats (BHR) were reared with either hypertensive (SHR) or normotensive (WKY) cagemates, and observations were conducted at two developmental periods to assess the effects of rearing condition on the social environment and the behavior of BHR subjects. SHR displayed significantly more agonistic behavior during development than WKY, and BHR subjects reared with SHR were the targets of significantly more agonistic behavior than BHR subjects reared with WKY cagemates. BHR reared with SHR initiated twice as much agonistic behavior as BHR reared with WKY. When heart rate and blood pressure were assessed at 75-80 days of age, however, neither the alterations in developmental social environment nor the alterations in the behavioral characteristics of BHR were associated with differences in cardiovascular variables. The results do not support a causal connection between behavioral characteristics and cardiovascular outcome.