title: Estrogen attenuation of the development of hypertension in spontaneously hypertensive rats.
abstract: To examine the effects of estrogen on the development of high blood pressure in rats with a genetic predisposition toward hypertension, we administered to rats of the spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) strains 0.05 mg mestranol daily from ages 4 to 13 wks. Control animals of each strain received corn oil placebos. Systolic blood pressure was measured by a microphonic tail-cuff technique twice a week after the rats were 6 wks of age. Estrogen treatment in SHR was associated with a significant reduction in the level of hypertension attained, but estrogen treatment had no effect on blood pressure in WKY. Estrogen prevented normal growth in SHR and WKY, but this effect (reproduced in another group of SHR and WKY by restriction of food intake) was not related to the lower blood pressures seen in estrogen-treated SHR. Thus, it appeared that estrogen administration attenuated the rise in blood pressure normally seen in SHR and that this attenuation was independent of the estrogenic effect on body weight.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D001835:Body Weight; D004967:Estrogens / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006973:Hypertension / Q000235:genetics* / Q000517:prevention & control; D008656:Mestranol / Q000627:therapeutic use; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens; D008656:Mestranol