Anticardiolipin antibodies in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), stroke-prone SHR and normal Wistar rats.

1. Anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA) can be detected in the serum of patients with autoimmune disturbances, ischaemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, neurological disorders and other medical conditions. Elevated values of these autoantibodies can be associated with recurrent fetal loss, arterial and venous thrombosis and thrombocytopenia. 2. In the present study, we investigated the presence of ACA in three rat strains, namely normal Wistar rats (WR), spontaneously hypertensive rats Okamoto-Aoki (SHR) and stroke-prone SHR (SHRSP). All animals were examined at four ages: 1, 4, 10 and 12 months of age. Anticardiolipin antibodies were determined by ELISA. 3. Anticardiolipin antibody levels in normal WR, which were used as controls, were lowest at 1 month and increased significantly from the 4th month on. At the prehypertensive age (1 month), ACA levels in SHR and SHRSP were significantly higher compared with control WR, decreased with age and were significantly lower at 4, 10 and 12 months compared with age-matched WR. 4. These differences may be a result of immunological disorders in SHR.