[Features of the behavior of the rat with hereditarily determined arterial hypertension]

The behaviour of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR strain), rats with inherited stress induced arterial hypertension (ISIAH, a new developed strain), and of their normotensive Wistar progenitors was studied. The open-field arena and a device for measuring the total activity in the home cage were used in the behavioural studies. The SHR were much more active in the open--field and home cage tests than the Wistar and ISIAH rats. The basal locomotor activity of the ISIAH strain was lower than that of the Wistar rats, but the ISIAH strain had an index of behavioural reactivity 2.7 fold higher than the Wistar or SHR strains. These behavioural characteristics corresponded to the hypertension patterns of the strains compared. Enhanced spontaneous locomotion of the SHR rats was associated with spontaneous increase in arterial blood pressure. The ISIAH rats showed low spontaneous locomotor activity, but high behavioural and blood pressure reactivity under conditions of mild emotional stress.