title: Persistent antihypertensive effect of oral nitrite supplied up to one year via the drinking water in spontaneously hypertensive rats.
abstract: The hypothesis was studied whether the chronic administration of nitrite lowers the blood pressure of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and prevents secondary hypertension-induced organ lesions. For this purpose totally 96 SHR received 50 to 75 mmol/l NaNO2 or equimolar amounts of NaHCO3 in their drinking water during 4, 8 or 12 months. At each point of time arterial blood pressure, determined with the tail cuff method, was significantly lower in the NaNO2-group in comparison to the controls indicating that no significant tolerance towards nitrite had developed. There was also a tendency towards reduced cardiac hypertrophy and renal atrophy in the NaNO2-group, however without reaching the level of significance. Drinking water containing 75 mmol NaNO2/l was not well tolerated by young rats in contrast to 50 mmol/l. Possible beneficial effects of high dietary nitrate/nitrite levels are discussed with respect to the low frequency of hypertension observed in vegetarians.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology of Nutrition, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Classen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thöni
authors.forename: U G
authors.initials: UG
authors.lastname: Classen
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Drescher
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000652:urine; D008297:Male; D008706:Methemoglobin / Q000378:metabolism; D009929:Organ Size; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012977:Sodium Nitrite / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use* / Q000652:urine
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D008706:Methemoglobin; D012977:Sodium Nitrite