title: Baroreflex control of heart rate in young and adult salt hypertensive inbred Dahl rats.
abstract: Baroreflex control of heart rate was studied in inbred salt-sensitive (SS/Jr) and salt-resistant (SR/Jr) Dahl rats that were subjected to chronic dietary sodium chloride loading (for 4 weeks) either in youth or only in adulthood, i.e. from the age of 4 or 12 weeks. Using phenylephrine administration to pentobarbital-anesthetized male rats we have demonstrated the decreased baroreflex sensitivity (lower slope for reflex bradycardia) in young prehypertensive SS/Jr rats fed a low-salt diet as compared to age-matched SR/Jr animals. High salt intake further suppressed baroreflex sensitivity in young SS/Jr but not in SR/Jr rats. Baroreflex sensitivity decreased with age in SR/Jr rats, whereas it increased in SS/Jr rats fed a low-salt diet. Thus at the age of 16 weeks baroreflex sensitivity was much higher in SS/Jr than in SR/Jr animals. High salt intake lowered baroreflex sensitivity even in adult SS/Jr rats without affecting it in adult SR/Jr rats. Nevertheless, baroreflex sensitivity was significantly lower in young SS/Jr rats with a severe salt hypertension than in adult ones with a moderate blood pressure elevation. It is concluded that the alterations of baroreflex sensitivity in young inbred SS/Jr rats (including the response to high salt intake) are similar to those described earlier for outbred salt-sensitive Dahl rats. We have, however, disclosed contrasting age-dependent changes of baroreflex sensitivity in both inbred substrains of Dahl rats.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nedvídek
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zicha
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D017704:Baroreflex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D010656:Phenylephrine / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D020303:Rats, Inbred Dahl; D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary / Q000494:pharmacology; D013566:Sympathomimetics / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary; D013566:Sympathomimetics; D010656:Phenylephrine