SHR, Rat Strain

**Semantic type:** Mammal

**Definition:** SHR: rats develop hypertension spontaneously without exception at the age of 7-15 weeks. There is a systolic blood pressure plateau of about 200 mmHg. The genetic basis is polygenic, with at least three major genes involved (Tanase and Suzuki 1971, Yen et al 1974). There is a high incidence of cardiovascular disease (Okamoto et al 1973), but a low incidence of stroke which can be increased to about 30% with chronic stress (Yamori 1984).

**Synonyms:** - SHR