ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION IN RATS : I. METHODS

Normal standards for the blood pressure of rats under pentobarbital sodium anesthesia have been ascertained. Arterial hypertension did not consistently follow the injection of estradiol and pitressin in adult rats, and only transient hypertension occurred after the injection of dihydroxyphenylalanine. The injection of adrenalin in oil, however, was followed by cardiac hypertrophy, and it also resulted from (a) partial constriction of one renal artery, (b) the production of unilateral hydronephrosis, (c) traumatic injury to one kidney, (d) inducing unilateral perinephritis with a cellophane membrane. The blood pressure in many of the animals became elevated. In rats the weight of the heart is probably a more reliable index of the presence of the hypertensive state than is one measurement, or two, of blood pressure under anesthesia. The latter is extremely variable, both in normal and in hypertensive animals. Rats are, however, liable to hypertension under natural circumstances, and it can be easily induced in a number of ways. The weight of the heart may then become rapidly increased. To judge from the findings in this species, rats are very susceptible to the production of the hypertensive state, in comparison with other animals.