Hypertension is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline in aging humans. This study investigated longitudinal effects of induced HTN in regional and microstructural neuroanatomy of F344 rats using noninvasive diffusion-weighted MRI and fixel-based analysis. Single-shot spin-echo EPI along 64 diffusion directions and three shells (b=1000, 2000, and 3000 s/mm2) was performed. Microstructural changes in the brain appeared in certain regions after 10 weeks of hypertension, yet, most regions remained unaffected, contrasting peripheral organs which showed dramatic fibrosis due to the HTN. This likely demonstrates a robust protective mechanism of the central nervous system.
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Wiskoski et al. (2024) studied this question.
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