Abstract
Aldosterone plays a significant role in hypertension and target organ damage. Aldosterone antagonists are used in the management of heart failure. However, neither the influence of age nor sex on aldosterone pathophysiology is well understood. We investigated the changes in circulating aldosterone with age and its association with cardiovascular function, using male and female hypertensive renin transgenic (mRen2)27 rats and SD rats at 20 and 50 weeks of age. Both male (22 ± 3 vs. 12 ± 2 ng/dL, n = 9 - 12, p < 0.05) and female (59 ± 10 vs. 23 ± 8 ng/dL, n = 6 - 10, p < 0.05) hypertensive rats had higher serum aldosterone compared with SD rats at 20 weeks of age. At 50 weeks of age, the difference persisted in the hypertensive female rats (63 ± 8 vs. SD: 33 ± 7 ng/dL, n = 6 - 7, p < 0.05), but not in the males. SD male rats have higher systolic blood pressure (SBP) as they age, and consequently develop cardiac diastolic dysfunction associated with higher aldosterone at 50 weeks compared to 20 weeks (28 ± 3 vs. 12 ± 2 ng/dL, n = 7 - 9, p < 0.05). This aging effect on aldosterone was not significant in the other groups. We showed previously that SD males treated with polyphenol rich muscadine grape extract (MGE) have lower aldosterone, less aortic stiffness and better cardiac diastolic function (E/e’) than controls at the older age; the MGE effect was not seen in (mRen2)27 males. Sex differences in aldosterone were not significant in the SD rats at either time point. However, (mRen2)27 female rats had higher aldosterone than (mRen2)27 males at both 20 weeks (59 ± 10 vs. 22 ± 3 ng/dL, n = 10 - 12, p < 0.05) and 50 weeks (63 ± 8 vs. 31 ± 7 ng/dL, n = 6 - 7, p < 0.05), despite the lack of significant differences in SBP. (mRen2)27 female rats preserve cardiac function better than males throughout their life span, while males develop indices of heart failure. Our data suggest that lower aldosterone levels in hypertensive males compared with females do not protect against the higher lifetime burden of elevated SBP and also may reflect different mechanisms controlling circulating aldosterone between sexes. In addition, data suggest a potential therapeutic effect of MGE in the management of age-associated moderate hypertension.
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