Faculty Collaboration Database

Effect of a reduction in sodium intake on cold-induced elevation of blood pressure in the rat. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 1992 Sep;200(4):472-9

Date

09/01/1992

Pubmed ID

1387228

DOI

10.3181/00379727-200-43456

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-0026733350 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   7 Citations

Abstract

Chronic exposure of rats to cold (5 degrees C) induces hypertension within 3 weeks. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of treatment with graded levels of dietary NaCl on the induction of hypertension during chronic exposure to cold. Four groups of male rats were used. The first, given a commercial sodium-deficient diet containing 0.30% NaCl, served as the warm-adapted control group. The second, third, and fourth groups were given the same diet containing 0.075%, 0.15%, and 0.30% NaCl, respectively. Because cold-exposed rats ingest approximately twice as much food as warm-adapted controls, this represented half, the same, and twice the amount of NaCl ingested by the control group. The latter three groups were placed in cold air (5 degrees C). All cold-treated groups had an elevation of systolic blood pressure that was proportional to the concentration of NaCl in the diet by the seventeenth week of exposure to cold. Cardiac hypertrophy occurred to the same extent in all cold-exposed groups and was thus unaffected by the NaCl content of the diet or by the extent of elevation of blood pressure. Hence, cardiac hypertrophy during chronic exposure to cold is supported by other factors, possibly by the increased concentration of either norepinephrine or triiodothyronine, or both, which occurs characteristically in rats under these conditions. The results of this experiment suggest that the amount of NaCl ingested daily plays a role in the cold-induced elevation of blood pressure observed in rats.

Author List

van Bergen P, Fregly MJ, Papanek PE

Author

Paula Papanek PhD, MPT, LAT, FACSM Associate Professor & Director of Exercise Science in the Exercise Science & Physical Therapy department at Marquette University

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Acclimatization
Aldosterone
Animals
Blood Pressure
Body Weight
Cardiomegaly
Cold Temperature
Diet, Sodium-Restricted
Drinking Behavior
Feeding Behavior
Hematocrit
Hypertension
Male
Organ Size
Potassium
Rats
Rats, Inbred Strains
Renin
Sodium
Sodium, Dietary