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To determine systemic and regional hemodynamic effects of prolonged treatment with the calcium antagonist diltiazem (30 mg/kg twice daily by gastric gavage, for 3 weeks), data from 12 Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and 10 spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats were compared with those obtained from 11 WKY and 10 SHR controls treated with the vehicle. Systemic and regional hemodynamics were determined in the conscious, unrestrained state using the reference sample microsphere method. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) decreased in SHR by 9% (183 +/- 4 to 167 +/- 4 mm Hg; p less than 0.05) but remained unchanged in WKY, while cardiac index (CI) tended to decrease in both strains; heart rate fell by 15% only in WKY (481 +/- 10 to 354 +/- 13 beats/min; p less than 0.05). Total peripheral resistance index (TPRI) tended to decrease in SHR but to increase in WKY. Organ blood flow in SHR decreased in skin and splanchnic organs, while organ vascular resistance decreased in brain and increased in splanchnic organs. In contrast, organ blood flow increased in heart and decreased in kidneys and skin of the WKY, while organ vascular resistance decreased in heart and increased in kidneys and skin. Thus, diltiazem produced nonuniform and different hemodynamic effects in the two strains. Further, diltiazem did not alter the cardiac mass in either rat strain. We therefore conclude that diltiazem demonstrated a mild hypotensive effect in SHR that was associated with slight reductions in CI and TPRI, the latter being nonuniformly distributed in the component organ circulations.

Sodium homeostasis exerts a powerful influence on the cardiovascular system in normotensive and hypertensive animals. Previous studies indicate that factors other than blood pressure can influence cardiac hypertrophy. In the present experiments, we evaluated the effects of different sodium diets in the two-kidney, one clip hypertension model in the rat. After the renal artery had been cupped, the rats received a normal sodium (177 meq/kg), high sodium (517 meq/kg), and low sodium (7 meq/kg) diet during 4 weeks. The final blood pressure was almost the same in the three groups (normal sodium 170 ±12 mm Hg; low sodium 168 ±4 mm Hg; and high sodium 162 ±7 mm Hg). Sodium restriction significantly reduced the development of cardiac hypertrophy as compared with rats on normal or high sodium diets. Thus, ventricular weight and ventricular weight/body weight ratio were significantly higher in rats subjected to a normal or high sodium diet (p<0.01). The hypertrophied hearts of rats on normal and high sodium diets showed a larger increase in the number of cardiac ^-adrenergk receptors than those observed in hearts from low sodium diet, clipped rats. These results show that sodium modulates the development of cardiac hypertrophy in two-kidney, one clip hypertensive rats. Similarly, the cardiac /3-adrenergic receptors appear to be influenced by dietary sodium intake. A possible role of the sympathetic nervous system is suggested. (Hypertension 1990;15(suppl I):I-157-I-160)

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1. Rats on normal sodium diet (group 1) and on chronically maintained low sodium diet (group 2) were studied during a control period, after clipping the renal artery (two-kidney, one-clip hypertension) and after nephrectomy (one-kidney, one-clip hypertension). 2. The low sodium diet neither prevented the development nor changed the severity of two-kidney, one-clip hypertension, and the latter was not accompanied by an increase in plasma renin activity. 3. After nephrectomy arterial pressure further increased and plasma renin activity decreased in group 1, and both remained unchanged in group 2. 4. Blood volume was the same in both groups 10 days before and 10 days after nephrectomy. 5. Sodium does not seem to be 'necessary' in the two-kidney, one-clip hypertension although it may play an enhancing role in the one-kidney model.