This strain rats was provided to University of Kansas from Central Institute for Laboratory Animal Breeding (Hanover, Germany), and then was introduced to Fujita Health University.
The Cy/Cy homozygous and Cy/+ heterozygous rats develop polycystic kidney disease (PKD). The Cy/Cy homozygous rats die of renal failure at around 3 weeks of age. In the Cy/+ heterozygous rats, female rats survive for over 1 year, but the life-span of male rats is within 1 year. In the Cy/+ heterozygous kidneys, cell growth is promoted by activation of signaling pathway such as ERK, and the levels of MCP-1 and osteopontin are increased. In addition, cell growth is promoted by androgen receptor-mediated activation of signaling pathway in the heterozygous male rats.