Effect of sodium deprivation on cardiac hypertrophy in spontaneously hypertensive rats: Influence of aging

Abstract

Sodium has been identified as a causal factor in the development of hypertension in experimental animal models as well as in clinical human subjects. Sodium is also known to play a role in modulating myocardial mass and its pattern of myosin isozyme distribution. In the rodent model, the accumulation of V 3 myosin isozyme (MI), due to the modulating influence of sodium, has been shown to be associated with persistent cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. In this paper, we have examined the effect of the restriction of dietary sodium on blood pressure, ventricular weight and myosin isoforms in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and the relationship of these parameters with age. In 10- to 11-week-old SHR, dietary sodium restriction for 14 weeks resulted in a significant reduction in ventricular mass associated with systolic shifting of myosin isoform from V 3 type to V 1 type with no change in systolic blood pressure level; dietary sodium restriction also showed a significant reduction in body weight. When the effect of dietary sodium restriction (for 8 weeks) was studied in relation to age (in 11-, 16- and 24-week-old rats) a significant shift in myosin isoform from the V 3 to the V 1 type was noted in the 11-week-old rats; a slight but significant shift was noted in 16-week-old rats, and no change in myosin isoform distribution was noted in the 24-week-old SHR. The alteration in myosin isoform and myocardial mass in the 11- and 16-week-old rats was independent of changes in systolic blood pressure. This study demonstrates that sodium plays an important role not only in modulating myocardial mass but also in changing the biochemical composition of the heart. This study also suggests that in genetic hypertension, the restriction of sodium at a very young age may fully prevent the development of hypertension and hypertrophy. However, the mechanism by which the sodium ion modulates myocardial mass and the expression of either V 1 or V 3 myosin genes is unknown; the question of how sodium affects the cardiac function also remains. Some evidence suggests that sympathetic outflow may play an important role, but further studies are needed to validate this.