Neuropeptide abnormalities suggest a dopaminergic basis for high blood pressure in the spontaneously hypertensive rat.
The spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) and the stroke-prone substrain (sp-SHR) have been reported to have several abnormalities in levels of peptides both in tissue and in plasma (beta-endorphin, prolactin, thyroid stimulating hormone and vasopressin) when compared to the Wistar Kyoto (WKY) normotensive control rat. As the secretion of these peptides is under dopaminergic control and the abnormalities consistently suggest under-activity of the dopaminergic control system in the brain, injections of dopamine (0.4 mg/kg) were given i.c.v. to 10 SHR, 10 renal artery stenosis hypertensive rats (LRAS) and 10 genetically hypertensive rats of the New Zealand strain (GHR). Mean blood pressure fell from 205 +/- 6 (SEM) mmHg to 128 +/- 8 mmHg in the SHR (p less than 0.001), from 184 +/- 7 mmHg to 176 +/- 7 mmHg in the LRAS (p greater 0.05) and from 157 +/- 5 mmHg to 138 +/- 6 mmHg in he GHR (p less than 0.02). These effects were unlikely to be due to leakage of dopamine out into the periphery as i.v. dopamine (0.4 mg/kg) increased blood pressure in these animals.
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006978:Hypertension, Renovascular / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011921:Rats, Inbred WKY; D013045:Species Specificity; D009435:Synaptic Transmission
D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D004298:Dopamine