Analysis of salt memory in hypertension and its molecular mechanism

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Hypertension is known to occur because of an interplay between genetic and environmental factors. Of these environmental factors, changes in salt balance are thought to play a major role in the pathogenesis of hypertension, but the precise mechanisms by which the changes in salt balance cause elevations in blood pressure are still unclear. In this study, we show that transient treatment with a high-salt diet from age 6 to age 14 weeks causes hypertension which is sustained even after the high-salt diet is changed to a normal diet. Analysis of the mechanisms involved by renal cross-transplantation revealed an important role for the kidney in the salt memory phenomenon and also revealed that changes in renal vascular hypertrophy and a sustained increase in the systemic and local renin-angiotensin system were involved in the molecular mechanism.