Sympathetic activation in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle of hypertensive rats

The activation of the sympathetic nervous system is a common feature of arterial hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. This activation might be dependent on an altered baroreflex control of vascular resistance of which the inhibitory response on sympathetic activity appears impaired. The aim of the study was to monitor during the natural course of arterial hypertension in spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and age-matched Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats (5, 16, 30, and 54 weeks of age) the peripheral sympathetic activity expressed as interstitial norepinephrine (NE) release and as tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) activity, the rate-limiting enzyme of NE synthesis, in the differently baroreflex-controlled subcutaneous adipose tissues and skeletal muscles. Blood pressure and plasma NE in SHR were similar to WKY at 5 weeks of age but increased at all other ages. Body weight was similar in both 5-week-old rats but reduced in SHR at all other ages. The interstitial NE levels were greater in both SHR tissues at all ages as compared with WKY. In adipose tissue of SHR, TH activity was higher at all ages as compared with WKY, whereas TH activity in skeletal muscle was higher only after the development of hypertension. These data show that in both SHR tissues, an increase of interstitial NE release is always present during its lifespan. This suggests that increased sympathetic activation in the SHR model is not specific to baroreflex-controlled tissues such as skeletal muscle but involves also subcutaneous adipose tissue, the sympathetic efferents of which are independent from baroreflexes.