Y-chromosome transfer induces changes in blood pressure and blood lipids in SHR

Previous studies with chromosome-Y consomic strains of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto rats suggest that a quantitative trait locus for blood pressure regulation exists on chromosome Y. To test this hypothesis in the SHR-Brown Norway (BN) model and to study the effects of chromosome Y on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, we produced a new consomic strain of SHR carrying the Y chromosome transferred from the BN rat. We found that replacing the SHR Y chromosome with the BN Y chromosome resulted in significant decreases in systolic and diastolic blood pressures in the SHR.BN-Y consomic strain (P<0.05). To elicit possible dietary-induced variation in lipid and glucose metabolism between the SHR progenitor and chromosome-Y consomic strains, we fed rats a high-fructose diet for 15 days in addition to the normal diet. On the high-fructose diet, the SHR.BN-Y consomic rats exhibited significantly increased levels of serum triglycerides and decreased levels of serum HDL cholesterol versus the SHR progenitor rats. Glucose tolerance and insulin/glucose ratios, however, were similar in both strains on both normal and high-fructose diets. These findings provide direct evidence that a gene or genes on chromosome Y contribute to the pathogenesis of spontaneous hypertension in the SHR-BN model. These results also indicate that transfer of the Y chromosome from the BN rat onto the SHR background exacerbates dietary-induced dyslipidemia in SHR. Thus, genetic variation in genes on the Y chromosome may contribute to variation in blood pressure and lipid levels and may influence the risk for cardiovascular disease.