INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:Kidney disorders can cause essential hypertension, which can subsequently cause renal disease. High blood pressure is also common among those with chronic kidney disease; moreover, it is a well-known risk factor for a more rapid progression to kidney failure. Because hypertension and kidney function are closely linked, the present study aimed to observe the beneficial effects of low-intensity physical activity on structural and ultrastructural renal morphology and blood pressure in normotensive and spontaneously hypertensive rats.METHOD:Male Wistar-Kyoto rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats were randomly allocated into four groups: sedentary or exercised Wistar-Kyoto and sedentary or exercised spontaneously hypertensive rats. The exercise lasted 20 weeks and consisted of treadmill training for 1 hour/day, 5 days/week.RESULTS:The exercised, spontaneously hypertensive rats showed a significant blood pressure reduction of 26%. The body masses of the Wistar-Kyoto and spontaneously hypertensive strains were significantly different. There were improvements in some of the renal structures of the animals treated with physical activity: (i) the interdigitations of the proximal and distal convoluted tubules; (ii) the basal membrane of the proximal and distal convoluted tubules; and (iii) in the basal membrane, slit diaphragm and pedicels of the glomerular filtration barrier. The spontaneously hypertensive rats also showed a decreased expression of connexin-43.CONCLUSION:Physical exercise could be a therapeutic tool for improving kidney ultrastructure and, consequently, renal function in hypertensive individuals.

Hypertension is a disease classified as primary or secondary, manifested not only by elevation of blood pressure but also involved in structural and functional changes of target organs. Renal artery stenosis is a leading factor of secondary hypertension, and its progress is associated with overactivation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS). Aliskiren is a renin inhibiting drug that suppresses RAAS and culminates in decreased renin release, plasma angiotensin II concentration, and inhibition of aldosterone secretion. In this sense, the aim of the present study was to analyze the structural and ultrastructural morphophysiology of the adrenal glomerular zone, after treatment with aliskiren in Wistar rats with 2K1C hypertension. Parameters as structure and ultrastructure of the adrenal glomerular zone, cellular apoptosis, nuclear cell proliferation, and AT1 receptor expression were analyzed by immunostaining and electron microscopy. Our results showed that the hypertensive animals treated with aliskiren presented a reestablishment of AT1 receptor expression and decrease in apoptosis and autophagy. In addition, treatment with aliskiren improves the cell aspects in the adrenal glomerular zone, evidenced by ultrastructural analysis through preserved nuclei and well-developed mitochondria. Therefore, our evidence suggests that aliskiren has a beneficial effect on the adrenal glomerular zone remodeling in animals with renovascular hypertension.

The Liu Wei Di Huang Wan is a formula of a traditional Chinese medicine that is used to treat asthma patients and has been shown to have several important properties, such as antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities. The influence of an extract of Liu Wei Di Huang Wan on the labeling of blood constituents with technetium-99m was investigated. Anticoagulated blood (Wistar rats) was incubated with the extract, stannous chloride and technetium-99m, as sodium pertechnetate. Samples were centrifuged and aliquots of plasma and blood cells were separated and precipitated with trichloroacetic acid, to obtain soluble and insoluble fractions of the blood constituents. The percentage of radioactivity (%ATI) in all the fractions was determined. The analysis of the results shows that the extract at the highest concentration used (70 mg/mL) decreased significantly (P<0.05) the %ATI (from 96.48 ± 1.19 to 54.46 ± 7.38) on blood cells compartment, (from 81.11 ± 4.15 to 61.33 ± 4.74) on insoluble fractions of blood cells and (from 65.91 ± 2.44 to 13.15 ± 3.62) on insoluble fractions of plasma. In conclusion, the results suggest that the substances present on this extract can alter this labeling process, probably due to (i) redox properties (antioxidant and chelator activities) and/or (ii) specific actions in the binding sites where the 99mTc would be bound on the blood constituents. As a consequence, precaution is suggested on the interpretation of the nuclear medicine results from performed with blood constituents labeled with 99m Tc in patients that have undertaken LWDHW, although the current findings were obtained in experimental animal models.