Blood pressure hyperreactivity in non-human primates during dietary sodium combined with behavioral stress

The potential for behavioral stress alone or combined with dietary salt to augment pressor reactivity to the onset of daily experimental sessions was examined in normotensive, intact baboons over the course of four months. During twice daily experimental sessions, adult male baboons experienced food/shock conflict such that lever pulling not only served to earn food, but was also occasionally punished with cued mild electric shock. Blood pressure and heart rate were measured during a baseline period of fixed-ratio food reinforcement (3 weeks), during conflict stress (2 weeks), and after dietary salt was added to the daily conflict protocol (CONFLICT + SODIUM, 3 weeks). Reactivity, i.e., acute changes in blood pressure and heart rate to the daily experimental sessions, was not evident during food reinforcement sessions nor during the CONFLICT stress alone condition. The addition of a high salt diet virtually doubled blood pressure increases and heart rate decreases to the onset of experimental sessions. Average reactivities during CONFLICT + SODIUM periods were 11.2/7.9% delta for SBP/DBP (systolic/diastolic blood pressure, mmHg), and -5.65% delta for HR (heart rate, BPM). Neither atenolol nor hydrochlorothiazide diuretic significantly altered cardiovascular reactivity during CONFLICT + SODIUM in comparison to a preceding non-drug CONFLICT + SODIUM period. When atenolol and diuretic effects were directly compared, atenolol mildly augmented, while diuretic mildly decreased DBP but not SBP reactivity during CONFLICT + SODIUM. Reactivity was eliminated after salt loading and behavioral sessions were terminated. These findings provide evidence that enhanced salt ingestion may synergistically act with behavioral stress to produce pressor hyperresponsiveness to otherwise benign environmental events.