Milan hypertensive rats (MHS) develop hypertension because of a primary renal alteration. Both apical and basolateral sodium transport are faster in membrane vesicles derived from renal tubules of MHS than in those of Milan normotensive control rats (MNS). These findings suggest that the increased renal sodium retention and concomitant development of hypertension in MHS may be linked to an altered transepithelial sodium transport. Since this transport is mainly under the control of the Na-K pump, we investigated whether an alteration of the enzymatic activity and/or protein expression of the renal Na,K-ATPase is detectable in prehypertensive MHS. We measured the Na,K-ATPase activity, Rb+ occlusion, turnover number, alpha 1- and beta 1-subunit protein abundance, and alpha 1 and beta 1 mRNA levels in microsomes from renal outer medulla of young (prehypertensive) and adult (hypertensive) MHS and in age-matched MNS. In both young and adult MHS, the Na,K-ATPase activity was significantly higher because of an enhanced number of active pump sites, as determined by Rb+ occlusion maximal binding. The higher number of pump sites was associated with a significant pretranslational increase of alpha 1 and beta 1 mRNA levels that preceded the development of hypertension in MHS. Since a molecular alteration of the cytoskeletal protein adducin is genetically associated with hypertension in MHS and is able to affect the actin-cytoskeleton and Na-K pump activity in transfected renal cells, we propose that the in vivo upregulation of Na-K pump in MHS is primary and linked to a genetic alteration of adducin.

BACKGROUND Endogenous ouabain (EO) has been linked with long-term changes in sodium balance and cardiovascular structure and function. The biosynthesis of EO involves, cholesterol side-chain cleavage (CYP11A1), 3-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD3B) with sequential metabolism of pregnenolone and progesterone. Furthermore, the renal excretion of cardiac glycosides is mediated by the organic anion transporter (SLCO4C1) at the basolateral membrane and the P-glycoprotein (PGP) (encoded by MDR1) at the apical membrane of the nephron. METHODS Average 24-h ambulatory blood pressures were recorded in 729 untreated essential hypertensives. Aldosterone (Aldo), EO, urinary Na+, and K+ excretions were determined. Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and haplotype-based association study was performed with a total of 26 informative SNPs. RESULTS Plasma EO was significantly directly related to both day (r = 0.131, P < 0.01) and nighttime diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (r = 0.143, P < 0.01), and remained significantly related after correction for confounders (sex, body mass index, age). Genotype analysis for EO levels and daytime DBP gave significant results for CYP11A1 rs11638442 and MDR1 rs1045642 (T/C Ile1145) in which the minor allele tracked with higher EO levels (T/T 210.3 (147–272) vs. C/C 270.7 (193–366) pmol/l, P < 0.001). Association was found between HSD3B1 polymorphisms and/or haplotypes with blood pressure (systolic blood pressure (SBP) 140.3 (11.7) vs. 143.8 (11.2) mm Hg, P < 0.01) and plasma Aldo (P < 0.05). Haplotype-based analyses support the data of SNP analysis. CONCLUSIONS Among patients with essential hypertension, cholesterol side-chain cleavage and MDR1 loci are related to circulating EO and DBP, most likely by influencing EO synthesis and transmembrane transport, respectively. In contrast, variants in HSD3B1 are related with SBP probably via Aldo.

Abstract-In a previous study, by using a candidate gene approach, we detected in both Milan hypertensive rats and humans a polymorphism in the ␣-adducin gene (ADD1) that was associated with blood pressure and renal sodium handling. In the present study, a genomewide search with 264 informative markers was undertaken in 251 (Milan hypertensive strain ϫ Milan normotensive strain) F2 rats to further investigate the contribution of the adducin gene family (Add1, Add2, and Add3) and to identify novel quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that affect blood pressure. The influence of 2 different methods of blood pressure measurement, the intracarotid catheter and the tail-cuff method, was also evaluated. We found evidence that QTLs affected systolic blood pressure (SBP) measured at the carotid (direct SBP) on rat chromosome 1 with a logarithm of the odds (LOD) score peak of 3.3 on D1Rat121 and on rat chromosome 14 on Add1 locus (LODϭ3.2). A QTL for SBP measured at the tail (indirect SBP) was found on rat chromosome 10 around D10Rat33 (LODϭ5.0). All of these QTLs identified chromosomal regions not detected in other rat studies and harbor genes (Na ϩ /H ϩ exchanger A3; ␣-adducin; ␣ 1B -adrenergic receptor) that may be involved in blood pressure regulation. Therefore, these findings may be relevant to human hypertension, also in consideration of the biochemical and pathophysiological similarities between MHS and a subgroup of patients of primary hypertension, which led to the identification of ␣-adducin as a candidate gene in both species. (Hypertension. 2000;36:734-739.) Key Words: genes Ⅲ rats, inbred strains Ⅲ hypertension, essential A variety of strategies can be applied to demonstrate the molecular genetic determinants of human essential hypertension. Our approach was to study, in parallel, hypertensive patients and an animal model of genetic hypertension, the Milan hypertensive strain (MHS) rat with its normotensive control (Milan normotensive strain [MNS]). 1 In this way, it may be possible to reduce the enormous complexity that arises from the polygenic nature of hypertension, the environmental and genetic context dependency of each gene effect, and all of the consequences that these 2 confounding characteristics may have at the different levels of biological organization. The main drawbacks of this strategy are that (1) only the genes at work in a particular strain of rats can be detected, and other genes, with their interactions, that may be involved in human hypertension are ignored, and (2) the small degree of polymorphism between 2 strains of rats derived from common ancestors may hamper the detection of a number of polymorphic markers suitable to carry out a total genome search and the congenic strain selection. This last limitation considerably delayed the whole genome screening in the MHSϫMNS cross. The continuous improvements and the recent availability of new rat markers 2-4 allowed us to provide a systematic genome scan for blood pressure (BP) quantitative trait loci (QTLs) in an (MHSϫMNS) F2 population.Bioche...