title: Reproductive dysfunction in female rats with renovascular hypertension.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hypertension is a major public health epidemic that is highly associated with sexual dysfunction in both men and women. Despite its high prevalence, clinical and animal literature on the underlying mechanisms of sexual dysfunction in hypertensive women is remarkably limited.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a well-established rodent model of renovascular hypertension-the 2-kidney, 1-clip (2K1C) Goldblatt model-we investigated possible reproductive deficits in female rats. We evaluated several aspects of reproductive function in hypertensive female rats: estrous cycle, sexual behavior, ovulation, and plasma levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and estradiol at proestrus afternoon.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Clipping of the left renal artery resulted in dramatic elevations in systolic blood pressure and heart rate. Renovascular hypertension was associated with a delay for reestablishing estrous cyclicity (50% of 2K1C rats failed to resume cycling by 15 days after surgery). In rats that resumed cycling, 2K1C female rats showed a decrease in sexual behavior, evidenced by a decreased lordosis quotient and a reduction in ovulation, as demonstrated by a decreased number of oocytes. Moreover, plasma levels of LH on the proestrus afternoon were reduced in hypertensive female rats, but no changes in estradiol or FSH were observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results demonstrate that renovascular hypertension induces an overall decrease in reproductive function in female rats. Most important, our results indicate that the animal model of renovascular hypertension could be used as a relevant tool to understand better the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in the reproductive deficits in women with renovascular hypertension.
authors: Laboratório de Neuroendocrinologia do Comportamento, Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors: Rosane A
authors: RA
authors: Ribeiro
authors: Charlis
authors: C
authors: Raineki
authors: Osni
authors: O
authors: Gonçalves
authors: Celso R
authors: CR
authors: Franci
authors: Aldo B
authors: AB
authors: Lucion
authors: Gilberto L
authors: GL
authors: Sanvitto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004958:Estradiol / Q000097:blood; D030762:Estrous Cycle / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone / Q000097:blood; D006978:Hypertension, Renovascular / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008026:Ligation; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone / Q000097:blood; D010060:Ovulation; D011359:Proestrus / Q000097:blood; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D004958:Estradiol; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone