The study investigates how surgery during pregnancy, i.e., sham operation associated with embryo transfer, affects hypertensive phenotype in ISIAH rats genetically predisposed to hypertension. ISIAH rats born after maternal surgery at fourth day of pregnancy were compared with naturally conceived controls. Surgery during pregnancy in ISIAH rats caused acceleration of neurodevelopment in young offspring, as well as aggravating hypertension, suppressing exploratory activity, reducing hippocampal BDNF expression, and compensatory increasing of hippocampal neuronal density in adult ISIAH offspring. Maternal surgery during early pregnancy caused alterations in offspring phenotype in hypertensive ISIAH rat model.
Keywords: Hypertension; blood pressure; brain; offspring neurodevelopment; pregnancy.