Hypertension II: Hypertension and Vascular Control

Re^2: Dr. J. Lombard (0532) Impaired relaxation of arterioles

On Fri Dec 11, Julian H. Lombard wrote
--------------------------------------
>On Thu Dec 10, Robert M.K.W. Lee wrote
>--------------------------------------
>>Your observation about high salt diet effect on the functional alterations of arterioles and resistance arteries in normal rats, is interesting. Have you seen this type of change in other normotensive rats, such as Wistar rats?
>
>
>Bob,

>Thanks for your question. We have not studied any rats other than the Sprague Dawley rats. However, Dr. Boegehold has demonstrated that acetylcholine induced relaxation is impaired in Dahl R rats on a high salt diet. This implies that the effects of high salt diet are not strain dependent.
>

Bob and Julian,
I would agree that the effect of high dietary salt intake is not strain dependent. We have also seen a salt-dependent suppression of the arteriolar response to ACh in Sprague-Dawley rats, as you have reported, Julian. Also, in normotensive WKY rats, we have seen that 4 weeks of high salt intake leads to a suppression of NO's normal attenuating effect on myogenic constriction (at least in the most proximal arterioles).

Matt Boegehold

Wed Dec 16