Hypertension and renal cardiovascular pathology in adrenalectomized salt-loaded rats

Abstract

Male and female adrenalectomized and uninephrectomized rats were kept on diets containing 4 and 12 per cent salt for 6 months and on a diet containing 4 per cent added salt for 1 year. Hypertension, increased heart weight, and microscopic lesions in the kidney consistent with early “malignant” nephrosclerosis were observed in male rats after 6 months on a 12 per cent salt diet, and in male rats after 1 year on a 4 per cent salt diet. These data reveal that hypertension and early nephrosclerosis can be induced by salt loading in the absence of the adrenal glands. It is also concluded that mineralosteroids of the adrenal cortex are not the primary pathogenic agents in inducing these conditions. It is probable that they merely potentiate the primary damaging effect of a high salt load.