title: Alpha-blockade on blood pressure and on cardiac noradrenaline content in SHR and DOCA-salt rats.
abstract: The current study was designed to explore the effects of peripherally administered alpha-adrenoceptor inhibiting drugs (either prazosin or yohimbine) in spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and DOCA-salt hypertensive rats before the development of established hypertension, as well as to characterize changes induced by prazosin and/or yohimbine in the cardiac noradrenaline (NA) content that might be responsible for the development of hypertension in these strains. The alpha-adrenoceptor blockade can prevent hypertension in DOCA and salt-treated animals in such a way that their blood pressure stabilizes at levels significantly lower than those observed in similarly treated normotensive controls. Significantly lower cardiac NA content was observed in DOCA-salt rats under basal and experimental conditions. The blood pressure of the treated rats and the heart NA content of the SHR were unaltered by treatment. Thus, administration of the alpha-adrenoceptor blocking agents, prazosin and/or yohimbine, throughout the developmental stage of SHR hypertension failed to alter either the progressive rise in blood pressure or in NA content. There may be differences between the cardiac adrenergic mechanisms responsible for the development of hypertension in each of these two models of hypertension.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Córdoba, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sanchez
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Saiz
mesh_terms: D000317:Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D003900:Desoxycorticosterone; D006321:Heart / Q000187:drug effects*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000378:metabolism*; D011224:Prazosin / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011921:Rats, Inbred WKY; D015016:Yohimbine / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000317:Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists; D015016:Yohimbine; D003900:Desoxycorticosterone; D009638:Norepinephrine; D011224:Prazosin