Arteriolar wall thickening in hypertensive rats unrelated to pressure or sympathoadrenergic influences.

We have previously reported that experimental aortic coarctation in rats is accompanied by non-pressure-related increases in the wall-to-lumen ratio (W/L) of cremaster arterioles. To investigate the role of the sympathoadrenergic system in this arteriolar wall thickening, we partially constricted or sham-constricted the abdominal aorta in adrenal-demedullated, 6-week-old rats that had had guanethidine injections to produce peripheral sympathectomy (S rats, n = 17 coarcted, 16 sham-coarcted) and in sham-demedullated, sham-sympathectomized control rats (SS rats, n = 13 coarcted, 15 sham-coarcted). In both SS and S rats with coarctation, tail and femoral arterial and conscious abdominal aortic pressures were not increased but carotid pressures rose by greater than 30% (p less than 0.01), accompanied by 46-75% increases in cardiac ventricular weight/body weight. In coarcted rats, 4-6 weeks after aortic constriction, compared with sham-coarcted rats, whether S or SS, observation of the cremaster microcirculation revealed increased wall area, wall thickness, and W/L of third- to fifth-order arterioles, both in the resting state and after maximal relaxation with topical nitroprusside. For example, in coarcted S rats wall area after nitroprusside was elevated by 24%, 39%, and 37% in third-, fourth-, and fifth-order arterioles (p less than 0.01). These findings indicate that arteriolar wall thickening in hypertension may occur independently of intra-arterial pressure or sympathoadrenergic influences. Humoral growth factors may be involved.