title: Sodium sensitivity of arterial blood pressure in L-NAME hypertensive but not eNOS knockout mice.
abstract: The present studies determined the sensitivity of mean arterial pressure (MAP) to sodium intake in endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) knockout mice, wild-type mice (C56BL/6J), and wild-type mice intravenously administered the nonspecific NOS inhibitor N(G)-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 8.6 mg/kg/d). Arterial blood pressure was measured from chronically implanted femoral arterial catheters in conscious, freely moving mice. The MAP was unaltered from the low sodium ( approximately 200 microEq/d) intake level of 106 +/- 3 mm Hg in wild-type mice when sodium intake was increased to approximately 1000 microEq/d (n = 12). Chronic administration of L-NAME to wild-type mice led to a sodium-dependent increase in MAP from 111 +/- 7 mm Hg to 124 +/- 5 mm Hg when the mice were placed on an elevated sodium intake (n = 7). In contrast to the L-NAME-treated mice, MAP was unaltered in eNOS knockout mice (n = 8) when sodium intake was increased (128 +/- 3 mm Hg v 129 +/- 5 mm Hg). These experiments demonstrate that eNOS knockout and L-NAME-treated wild-type mice are hypertensive relative to wild-type controls when sodium intake is elevated, but only L-NAME-treated mice exhibited a sodium-sensitive increase in MAP. Therefore, nitric oxide produced by eNOS does not appear to be important in the physiologic adaptation to elevated sodium chloride intake.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. dmattson@mcw.edu
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Mattson
authors.forename: Carla J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Meister
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester / Q000494:pharmacology*; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000502:physiology*; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester