Factors affecting the development of isolation-induced hypertension in rats.
Rats were housed either individually in separate metabolic cages or in pairs in two connecting metabolic cages and systolic blood pressure was measured before and after a 5 day period over which the animals were left undisturbed. After the 5 day period isolated rats were hypertensive whereas paired rats were not. A further study compared the Na+, K+ and water balances of pairs of normotensive rats with those of isolated rats over the 5 days during which the latter became hypertensive. There was no evidence of any renal Na+ and water retention in isolated, hypertensive rats and thus it is unlikely that mineralocorticoids could have caused a plasma volume expansion and thereby contributed to the hypertension.
D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001835:Body Weight; D004326:Drinking; D006799:Housing, Animal; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D011188:Potassium / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D012934:Social Isolation; D012964:Sodium / Q000378:metabolism; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D013997:Time Factors; D014882:Water-Electrolyte Balance
D012964:Sodium; D011188:Potassium