Vasodilator dysfunction in aged spontaneously hypertensive rats: changes in NO synthase III and soluble guanylyl cyclase expression, and in superoxide anion production

We previously published that female spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) have significantly greater nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability and NO synthase (NOS) enzymatic activity in the renal inner medulla (IM) compared with age-matched males, although the mechanism responsible remains unknown. Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) is a critical cofactor required for NO generation, and decreases in BH4 as a result of increases in oxidative stress have been implicated in the pathogenesis of hypertension. As male SHR are known to have higher levels of oxidative stress compared with female SHR, we hypothesized that relative BH4 deficiency induced by oxidative stress in male SHR results in lower levels of NOS activity in renal IM compared with females. Twelve-week-old male and female SHR were randomized to receive tempol (30 mg/kg/day via drinking water) or vehicle for 2 weeks. Tempol treatment did not affect blood pressure (BP) in either sex, but reduced peroxynitrite levels only in males. Females had more total biopterin, dihydrobiopterin (BH2), and BH4 levels in renal IMs than males, and tempol treatment eliminated these sex differences. Females had greater total NOS activity in the renal IM than males, and adding exogenous BH4 to the assay increased NOS activity in both sexes. This sex difference in total NOS and the effect of exogenous BH4 were abolished with tempol treatment. We conclude that higher oxidative stress in male SHR results in a relative deficiency of BH4 compared with females, resulting in diminished renal NOS activity in the male.

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Does a general alteration in nitric oxide synthesis system occur in spontaneously hypertensive rats?

AJP Heart and Circulatory Physiology ◽

10.1152/ajpheart.1994.266.1.h272 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 266 (1) ◽

pp. H272-H278 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

J. Xiao ◽

P. K. Pang

Keyword(s):

Nitric Oxide ◽

Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats ◽

No Synthase ◽

Hypertensive Rats ◽

Synthesis System ◽

Spontaneously Hypertensive ◽

Proliferation Of Lymphocytes ◽

General Activation ◽

Wistar Kyoto ◽

Synthase Inhibitor

Immune dysfunction has been reported in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). The current study investigated interactions between macrophages or vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) and lymphocytes in SHR and examined the role of nitric oxide (NO) in this interaction. SHR macrophages significantly inhibited the proliferation of lymphocytes from SHR and the genetic control, Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). This inhibition was reversed by a NO synthase inhibitor, NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA). SHR VSMC also significantly inhibited the proliferation responses of lymphocytes from SHR and WKY. The inhibition was cell density dependent. In addition, L-NMMA fully reversed the inhibition by SHR VSMC. Upon stimulation, the macrophages and VSMC from SHR produced a significantly higher amount of NO compared with those from WKY. These results suggest that the overproduction of NO was involved in the interaction between macrophages or VSMC and lymphocytes in SHR. Increased NO synthase activity in macrophages and VSMC may indicate a general activation of the NO synthesis system in SHR. The alteration of the NO synthesis system may be an important factor contributing to the lymphocyte depression in hypertension.

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