Potassium Depletion and Cardiac Hypertrophy

Abstract

For a number of years, many clinicians have believed that potassium depletion should be avoided in the treatment of hypertension, and that potassium supplementation might be advantageous in such patients.1 The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, a diet that is low in sodium and replete with potassium, is now being recommended as a standard lifestyle modification for patients with hypertension or other cardiovascular risk factors.2 Cardiac hypertrophy is a well-known complication of hypertension that is believed to have substantial consequences in afflicted patients.3 However, the interactions between potassium supplementation, blood pressure, and cardiac hypertrophy are still incompletely understood. In this issue of Hypertension , Dr Burnier’s laboratory reports that potassium supplementation ameliorates both renal and cardiac hypertrophy in both 1 and 2 renin-gene mice given deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA) and sodium supplementation. Furthermore, these scientists are able to dissociate the effects of potassium supplementation on blood pressure from the effects on organ hypertrophy. Specifically, these authors demonstrated that whereas potassium supplementation did lower blood pressure in the 2-renin gene mice that developed substantial hypertension with DOCA and sodium supplementation, it did not significantly affect blood pressure in the normotensive 1-renin gene mouse that also developed cardiac and …