[Changes in blood pressure in normal rats transplanted with kidney of SHR]

The experiments were performed on spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats of 12 weeks old. Systolic blood pressure in WKY recipients receiving an SHR or WKY rat kidney was observed and the influence of immuoinhibitor cyclosporin (CsA) on blood pressure was investigated. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) of tail artery was measured by tail cuff technique in 6 WKY recipients of one SHR kidney and 6 WKY recipients of a WKY kidney from before transplantation to 5 weeks after transplantation. At the time when kidneys were harvested for transplantation from 12-week-old SHR and WKY rats, the SBP in WKY recipients was not significantly different. The SBP in WKY recipients of an SHR kidney was significantly higher than that in WKY recipients of a WKY kidney at 3, 4 and 5 weeks after transplantation. The immunoinhibitor CsA exerted no effect on the arterial blood pressure in either intact or uninephrectomized SHR and WKY rats. The results indicate that the kidney of SHR plays an important role in the pathogenesis of genetic hypertension.