Calcium infusion increases plasma atrial natriuretic factor in spontaneously hypertensive rats

The effect of calcium on plasma atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) concentration was determined in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and their control, Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. CaCl2 10.5 mg (0.095 mmol) in 0.54 ml 5% glucose or an equal volume of vehicle alone was infused intravenously for 30 minutes into conscious precannulated SHR (vehicle, n = 16; CaCl2, n = 16) and WKY rats (vehicle, n = 25; CaCl2, n = 15). Direct systolic blood pressure was measured throughout the infusion period. Blood samples for serum total calcium and plasma ANF were obtained at the end of each experiment. The systolic blood pressure did not change significantly during infusion of the vehicle or CaCl2 in either strain. No significant difference was observed in serum total calcium concentration between SHR and WKY rats after vehicle (9.8 +/- 0.1 [mean +/- SEM] mg/dl vs. 10.0 +/- 0.1) or after CaCl2 infusion (12.2 +/- 0.3 vs. 12.2 +/- 0.2). Plasma ANF concentrations after both vehicle and CaCl2 infusion were significantly higher in SHR than in WKY rats (vehicle, 211 +/- 24 pg/ml vs. 129 +/- 11, p less than 0.05; CaCl2, 395 +/- 21 vs. 278 +/- 33, p less than 0.05). There were high degrees of correlation between serum total calcium and plasma ANF both in SHR (r = 0.77, p less than 0.001) and in WKY rats (r = 0.76, p less than 0.001). No significant difference was observed in the slopes of the regression lines of ANF as a function of the serum total calcium concentration between SHR and WKY rats.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)