Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) or vascular dementia occurs as a result of brain ischemia and represents the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer's disease. To explore the underlying mechanisms of VCI, several animal models of chronic cerebral hypoperfusion have been developed in rats, mice, and primates. We established a mouse model of chronic cerebral hypoperfusion by narrowing the bilateral common carotid arteries with microcoils, eventually resulting in hippocampal atrophy. In addition, a mouse model of white matter infarct-related damage with cognitive and motor dysfunction has also been established by asymmetric common carotid artery surgery. Although most experiments studying chronic cerebral hypoperfusion have been performed in rodents because of the ease of handling and greater ethical acceptability, non-human primates appear to represent the best model for the study of VCI, due to their similarities in much larger white matter volume and amyloid β depositions like humans. Therefore, we also recently developed a baboon model of VCI through three-vessel occlusion (both the internal carotid arteries and the left vertebral artery). In this review, several animal models of chronic cerebral hypoperfusion, from mouse to primate, are extensively discussed to aid in better understanding of pathophysiology of VCI.
Keywords: chronic cerebral hypoperfusion; mouse model of asymmetric carotid artery surgery; mouse model of bilateral common carotid artery stenosis; non-human primate model of 3-vessel occlusion; rat model of bilateral carotid artery occlusion; vascular cognitive impairment.