The factors that predispose to the accelerated organ injury that accompanies the hypertensive syndrome have remained speculative and without a firm experimental basis. Indirect evidence has suggested that a key feature may be related to an enhanced oxygen radical production. The purpose of this study was to refine and use a technique to visualize evidence of spontaneous microvascular oxidative stress in vivo in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) compared with its normotensive control, the Wistar-Kyoto rat (WKY). We investigated the effects of adrenal glucocorticoids on the microvascular oxidative stress sequence. The mesentery was superfused with hydroethidine, a reduced, nonfluorescent precursor of ethidium bromide. In the presence of oxidative challenge, hydroethidine is transformed intracellularly into the fluorescent compound ethidium bromide, which binds to DNA and can be detected by virtue of its red fluorescence. The fluorescent light emission from freshly exteriorized and otherwise unstimulated mesentery microvessels was recorded by digital microscopy. The number of ethidium bromide-positive nuclei along the arteriolar and venular walls in SHR was found to be significantly increased above the level exhibited by WKY. The elevation in ethidium bromide fluorescence in SHR arterioles could be attenuated by a synthetic glucocorticoid inhibitor and in rats subjected to adrenalectomy. The administration of glucocorticoids after adrenalectomy by injection of dexamethasone restored the oxidative reaction in SHR arterioles. Treatment with dimethylthiourea and with a xanthine oxidase inhibitor attenuated the superoxide formation. Although a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor (NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester) enhanced the ethidium bromide staining in WKY, it did not affect that in SHR.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Enhanced production of oxygen free radicals may play a role in hypertension by affecting vascular smooth muscle contraction, resistance to blood flow, and organ damage. The aim of this study was to determine whether oxygen free radicals are involved in the development of salt-induced hypertension. Dahl salt-sensitive (Dahl-S) and salt-resistant (Dahl-R) rats were fed either a high salt (6.0% NaCl) or low salt (0.3% NaCl) diet for 4 weeks. The high salt diet caused the development of severe hypertension in Dahl-S animals and had no effect on blood pressure in Dahl-R animals. A tetranitroblue tetrazolium dye was used to detect superoxide radicals in microvessels of the mesentery. Light absorption measurements revealed enhanced staining along the endothelium of arterioles and venules in hypertensive Dahl-S animals, with significantly lower values in normotensive animals. In addition, a Clark electrochemical electrode was used to measure hydrogen peroxide levels in fresh plasma. Hypertensive Dahl-S animals had a higher plasma hydrogen peroxide concentration compared with their normotensive counterparts (2.81+/-0.43 versus 2.10+/-0.41 micromol/L), while no difference was detected between high- and low salt-treated Dahl-R animals (1.70+/-0.35 versus 1.56+/-0.51 micromol/L). The plasma hydrogen peroxide levels of all groups correlated with mean arterial pressure (r=.77). These findings demonstrate an enhanced production of oxygen free radicals in the microvasculature of hypertensive Dahl-S rats.

These findings indicate that xanthine oxidase-derived oxygen free radicals are involved in the pathogenesis of salt-induced hypertension.