The stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHRSP) is a model of heritable hypertension-associated cerebrovascular injury. This study sought to compare SHRSP to the stroke-resistant SHR strain to identify genes and protein pathways whose expression and/or function was significantly altered between the strains prior to the onset of stroke. Cerebral cortex gene expression profiles from male SHRSPs and matched SHRs were examined by Affymetrix microarray analysis. mRNAs encoding the brain-derived neurotrophic factor receptor (TrkB) and multiple kinases of the MAPK/AKT signaling pathways, including JNK2, AKT2, and PI3K, were differentially expressed between SHRSP and SHR. Because these data suggest altered function in pathways involving MAP and AKT kinase activity, we performed Western blot using phosphorylation state-specific antibodies to characterize activity of MAP kinase and PI3K/AKT pathways. Changes in the levels of the phosphorylated forms of these kinases paralleled the changes in transcript levels observed between the strains. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and peptide fragment mass fingerprinting were used to identify altered protein substrates of these kinases. Protein profiling of kinase substrates further supported the notion of perturbed kinase-mediated signaling in SHRSP and identified adenylyl cyclase associated protein 2, TOAD-64, propionyl CoA carboxylase, APG-1, and valosin-containing protein as kinase targets whose phosphorylation state is altered between these strains. Altered gene and protein expression patterns in SHRSP are consistent with increased vulnerability of this strain to cerebrovascular injury.