PS-B04-3: SHORT-TERM LOW IODINE DIET EXACERBATES VASCULAR REACTIVITY WITHOUT ALTERING THYROID HORMONE PROFILES IN STROKE-PRONE SPONTANEOUSLY HYPERTENSIVE RATS

Abstract

Objective: Iodine is an essential microelement required for thyroid hormone (TH) synthesis and regulation. Recent evidence links iodine to direct cardiovascular functional changes independent of TH. We aimed to determine the short-term effect of a low iodine diet on cardiovascular parameters in young Wistar Kyoto (WKY) and stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive (SHRSP) rats. Design and method: 5-week-old WKY and SHRSP males and females (n = 5–7 per group) were assigned a normal (NID) or low iodine (LID) diet for 4 weeks. Iodine content was 1.2 mg/kg for NID and 0.211 mg/kg for LID. Tail cuff blood pressure (BP) and body weight were measured pre-diet and weekly. Transthoracic echocardiography, food intake, water consumption, and urine production were determined pre-diet and fortnightly. At sacrifice, thyroid tissue was weighed and snap-frozen for sodium iodide symporter (NIS) gene expression. Plasma was collected for thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free triiodothyronine (fT3), and free thyroxine (fT4) measurement. Third-order mesenteric arteries were assessed for vascular function using wire myography. Results: Baseline TSH, fT3, and fT4 levels were not significantly different between strains. LID did not influence food intake, body weight, thyroid weight, left ventricular (LV) mass, relative wall thickness (RWT) or BP. TSH levels, but not fT3 or fT4, significantly increased by 63.3% in SHRSP males (p = 0.0002) and 74.5% in females fed LID (p = 0.018) but not in WKY when compared to strain, sex- and age-matched rats fed NID. NIS expression significantly increased by 3.27-fold in WKY males fed LID when compared to WKY males fed NID (p = 0.03) but not in SHRSP males. A similar trend in NIS expression was observed in WKY females fed LID. Water intake/urine output ratio significantly increased by 53.62% in SHRSP females fed LID compared to SHRSP females fed NID (p = 0.04). Trends towards reduced stroke volume (SV) and cardiac output (CO) were observed in males fed LID compared to those fed NID irrespective of strain. Vascular reactivity to U46619 in third-order mesenteric resistance arteries was significantly increased by 24.9% in SHRSP males fed LID compared to SHRSP males fed NID (p = 0.03). A similar trend was evident in SHRSP females fed LID when compared to SHRSP females fed NID. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that short-term LID increases vascular reactivity in SHRSP male rats and is associated with altered expression of genes that encode iodine transport proteins yet independent of thyroid hormone levels.