title: Effects of cadmium ingestion in rats with opposite genetic predisposition to hypertension.
abstract: This study was undertaken to explore the effects of chronic low-level cadmium ingestion in Dahl hypertension-resistant (R) and hypertension-sensitive (S) lines of rats. Groups of weanling female R and S rats were given 0 or 1 mg cadmium/1. in drinking water and fed either a low salt (0.4% NaCl) or a high salt (4% NaCl) diet for 28 weeks. Cadmium produced hypertension associated with gross cardiac hypertrophy and mild to moderate renal vascular changes in S, but not in R, rats on a low salt diet. Cadmium enhanced the rate and degree of development of salt-induced hypertension without exacerbating the hypercholesterolemia or renal vascular lesions normally observed in S rats on a high salt diet. Cadmium lowered circulating cholesterol levels in both lines on a low salt diet. Cadmium had no influence on growth, blood urea nitrogen concentration, plasma renin activity, tumor formation, or survivorship in R and S rats on either salt diet. This study indicates that the genetic composition is a critical determinant of the adverse effects of chronic low-level cadmium ingestion in rats. In addition to the experimental implications, these findings may have relevance to the problem of human "essential" hypertension.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D001835:Body Weight; D002104:Cadmium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000633:toxicity*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000235:genetics; D009929:Organ Size; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002104:Cadmium; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D002784:Cholesterol