Abstract P149: Bilateral Renal Denervation Attenuates Hypertension in Male Rats Deficient of Functional Endothelin B Receptors but Does Not Affect Salt-Sensitivity

Abstract

Independent studies of renal sympathetic nerves and the endothelin (ET) system have demonstrated important contributions of each in the progression of hypertension. Very few studies, however, have investigated the interaction between the ET system and renal nerves in relation to blood pressure control and electrolyte homeostasis. Although endothelin B (ETB) receptors in the renal medulla promote natriuresis, ETB receptors on sympathetic neurons are thought to increase neuronal activity. We hypothesized that renal denervation reduces blood pressure in a salt-sensitive, hypertensive model of ET dysfunction, the ETB-deficient (ETB-def) rat, which lacks functional ETB receptors in all tissues except neurons. After bilateral renal sympathetic denervation (Dnx) or sham operation of ETB-def and transgenic control (TG) rats, baseline blood pressure was recorded via telemetry for 5 days on a normal salt (0.49% NaCl) diet followed by a high salt (4.0%) diet. At baseline, ETB-def Dnx rats had a lower 24-hr systolic blood pressure (SBP) (152.6 ± 3.6 mmHg) relative to ETB-def sham (167.8 ± 2.6 mmHg; p < 0.005; n = 7/group). Denervation did not significantly affect TG rats relative to sham on normal salt (138.8 ± 2.5 vs. 144.7 ± 0.5 mmHg respectively; p = 0.53; n = 6/group). Following 10 days of high salt diet, ETB-def sham rats had an increased 24-hr SBP (+10.59 ± 2.8 mmHg relative to baseline; p < 0.005). There was a similar increase in SBP in ETB-def Dnx rats (+10.03 ± 2.3 mmHg relative to baseline; p < 0.005), although the ETB-def Dnx group remained lower than ETB-def sham. High salt had no effect on TG sham or Dnx animals (-2.2 ± 1.3 and -0.6 ± 2.8 mmHg relative to baseline). Preliminary evidence from a subset of the animals in this experiment indicated a dramatically reduced inner medullary ET-1 content in ETB-def sham rats vs. TG sham (97.9 ± 15.4 vs. 327.0 ± 25.4 ng/mg total protein; p < 0.005; n = 3-4/group) in both ETB-def and TG groups, Dnx tended to increase inner medullary ET-1 content (181.8 ± 75.8 and 402.7 ± 19.6 ng/mg total protein respectively). We conclude that in a model of ET dysfunction, the renal nerves are integral mediators of hypertension during normal salt diet, but do not mediate the increase in pressure following high salt diet in this model of salt-sensitive hypertension.