Evaluation of an ischemic model in ischemia prone and general Mongolian gerbils by neurological symptom, injury, and sex difference

BACKGROUND: In the previous study, we established an ischemia‐prone gerbil population (IG), which was selectively bred to increase the incidence of unilateral carotid arterial occlusion (UCO)‐induced ischemia in Mongolian gerbils. However, if the characteristics of ischemia model in IG are the same as those in general gerbils (GG), and if the neurological symptoms are associated with the neurological insults in IG is still unclear. METHODS: In the present study, we evaluated the UCO model in IG by analyzing neurological symptoms, neurological injury in the hippocampal CA1 region and compared with GG. RESULTS: The data showed that the ratios of neurological symptom scores ≥ 2 in the IG and GG groups were 65.0% vs 30.0%, respectively, and were significantly different (P < .01).The neuronal damage following a UCO ischemic insult in the IG group was more severe compared to the GG group. There was a high correlation between the neurological insults’ scale and the neurological symptom score in the IG and GG groups (r = .979 and .943 in the IG and GG groups, respectively). In animals with mild neurological symptom scores (2 and 3), the neuronal insults were significantly different between female and male gerbils in both IG and GG. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that IG population would likely be more advantageous to establish an ischemic model.