ANGIOTENSIN, SODIUM AND GENES IN PRIMATE HYPERTENSION

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Sodium-dependent hypertension has long been associated with a defect in renal function. Experimental models as well as human studies have also suggested that an alteration in genetic expression may contribute to the hypertensive process. Sodium-lithium countertransport (SLC) activity is one mechanism that helps maintain intracellular sodium concentrations, and in some hypertensive patients, SLC activity is increased. These individuals also experience an inappropriate response to sodium challenges that appears to result from a lack of suppression of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS). The association between SLC activity and hypertension is genetically determined since it occurs in families. It is uncertain whether this reflects an alteration in the gene for SLC, one of the genes that may increase RAAS function, or an interaction between genes for the two systems. The goal of the proposed studies is to examine the relationship between SLC activity and the RAAS in a non-human primate model in which the SLC phenotype is high or low. The hypothesis to be tested is that a high SLC activity is associated with inappropriately high RAAS function and a greater arterial pressure sensitivity to dietary sodium. In three aims, the contributions of peripheral and central RAAS components to sodium-dependent hypertension will be studied in baboons with the high and low SLC phenotypes. In the first aim, regulation of the RAAS will be examined in high and low SLC animals during a step-wise increase in sodium intake. These experiments will determine whether animals with high SLC activity have a reduced ability to suppress the RAAS and develop salt-sensitive hypertension. The second aim will investigate the role of angiotensin and aldosterone in the stimulation of hypertension by sodium and their ability to cause blood pressure to rise in high and low SLC animals. This aim will determine whether by raising plasma angiotensin or aldosterone the high SLC animals are more likely to become hypertensive. The third aim will focus on central nervous system mechanisms associated with an inappropriately high RAAS in high and low SLC animals. These studies will determine whether the high SLC activity results in more sensitive central mechanisms driving the sympathetic nervous system to raise arterial pressure. These studies will help provide data to determine whether an inappropriately high RAAS activity can cause hypertension. Importantly, this work will also reveal whether the genetically determined phenotype of high SLC is important in predisposing an animal to sodium-dependent hypertension.