Elevation of oxidative stress in the aorta of genetically hypertensive mice

Hypertension is an age-dependent disorder. Oxidative stress has been suggested to play a role in aging and age-dependent disorders. The objective of this study is to examine the oxidant and antioxidant status in the aorta of a mouse model with high blood pressure (BPH). Our results showed that the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the aorta of BPH mice was approximately 2.6-fold higher than that of the normal blood pressure (BPN) mice, suggesting an increased in vivo oxidative stress in the arterial wall of BPH mice. In addition, the release of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) from the aorta of BPH mice was significantly faster than that of BPN mice. To determine if the increased H2O2 release is related to a down-regulation of antioxidant enzymes in the arterial wall, we measured the activities of the major antioxidant enzymes in mouse aortas. We observed that the activities of Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase-1 in BPH mice were similar to BPN mice. On the other hand, the catalase activity in the aorta of BPH mice was significantly reduced while the activities of Mn-SOD and extracellular (EC)-SOD in the aorta of BPH mice were significantly elevated as compared with BPN mice. These results suggest that increase in SOD activity and decrease in catalase activity might be responsible for the increased release of H2O2 in the arterial wall of BPH mice.