Differential effects of chronic hypertension and sex on vascular density along the septotemporal axis of the hippocampus in a rat model of VCID

Chronic hypertension in spontaneously hypertensive rats increases hippocampal vascular density in a sex- and septotemporal–dependent manner, with dorsal increases in males and dorsal+ventral increases in females.

• Why it matters: Hypertension is a key modifiable VCID risk factor, but early vascular changes that precede cognitive impairment—especially along the hippocampus’s septotemporal axis—are not well defined.
• What they did: Adult male and female Wistar and spontaneously hypertensive rats were examined at 5 months using high-resolution confocal microscopy with 3D vascular reconstruction to quantify vascular density and microvascular morphometry in dorsal versus ventral hippocampus.
• The result: In males, hypertension also shifts microvasculature diameter and length to smaller and longer vessels, whereas females show density increases without these morphometric shifts, implying sex-specific vascular remodeling.

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