Arterial pressure (AP), heart rate (HR), cardiac sympathetic tonus (ST), and parasympathetic tonus (PT) were determined in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR, 8 male and 8 female) and Wistar-Kyoto normotensive rats (WKY, 8 male and 12 female) before and after acute exercise. Before exercise, hypertensive rats (regardless of gender) had an increased ST (+15 beats/min), increased resting HR (+1...

Stiffness of large elastic arteries is elevated in subjects with hypertension, an effect that could potentially be explained by increased distending pressure. We examined effects of an acute change in blood pressure on carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity and carotid artery distensibility (inversely related to stiffness) in normotensive control subjects (n=20, mean age 42) with mean arterial pre...

The objective of this study was to examine total exchangeable sodium, plasma-blood volume, and the status of the renin-angiotensin system in hypertensive diabetic patients with established nephropathy. We also evaluated hypertensive patients with diabetes who were free of clinically apparent nephropathy or other diabetic complications. Total exchangeable sodium (by 24Na dilution) was expressed ...

In this study, we focused on the effect of hypertension on the transcription factors nuclear factor kappaB (NFkappaB) and ets in the mechanisms of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), and we investigated how hypertension affects the progression of AAA. AAA was produced by elastase perfusion in hypertensive rats and normotensive rats. The size of AAA rapidly increased in hypertensive rats as compare...

This study examines the relation between sympathetic activity and in vivo insulin-mediated glucose metabolism in a rat model of acquired hypertension. Two groups of conscious, unrestrained rats were studied in the postabsorptive state: sham-operated normotensive rats (n = 10) and renal-wrapped hypertensive rats (n = 10). Mean arterial pressure was increased in the hypertensive compared with the...

The present study was designed to investigate the role of abnormalities in red blood cell sodium-potassium-chloride (Na-K-Cl) cotransport and Na+ pump as predictors of the pressor response to chronic oral Na+ loading in young whites and blacks. Subjects were healthy adults from 18 to 23 years of age and included normotensive whites (n = 24) and normotensive blacks (n = 35). Red blood cell trans...

Primary aldosteronism is an important cause of secondary hypertension and is suspected in adults with an aldosterone/renin ratio > or =25. The normal aldosterone/renin ratio is unknown in children. The aim was to establish serum aldosterone, plasma renin activity, and aldosterone/renin ratio values in a healthy pediatric population. A cross-sectional study was performed in 211 healthy normotens...

Endothelin-1 is a potent endothelium-derived vasoconstrictor peptide. Although circulating concentrations are not increased in essential hypertension, enhanced sensitivity to endothelin-1 has been observed in animal models of hypertension. We investigated dorsal hand vein responses to local infusion of endothelin-1 and norepinephrine in 12 patients with essential hypertension who had never rece...

Our laboratory has shown that the Y chromosome has a significant effect on blood pressure in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) model of hypertension and that the testes and androgen receptor contribute to the blood pressure rise. As an extension of our research, we have developed two new rat strains, SHR/a and SHR/y (F11) to study the Y chromosome. The objectives of the following researc...

The purpose of the present study was to investigate alpha 1-adrenergic receptors in the heart as well as the activity and the sensitivity of the phosphoinositide pathway on tissue slices of atria, ventricles, and femoral artery of hypertensive rats treated for 4 weeks with deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA) and 1% saline. DOCA-salt hypertensive rats were characterized by an increased sympathoad...