Altered aortic reactivity and lowered blood pressure associated with high calcium intake

The hypothesis that dietary calcium (dCa) alters functional properties of aortic smooth muscle in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) was tested. At 6 wk of age, Wistar Kyoto (WKY) and (SHR) rats were placed on a control diet containing 1% Ca. The experimental SHR group received a 2%-calcium diet. After an average of either 8 or 15 wk on the diets (WOD), aortic rings were prepared for measurement of passive elastic properties and isometric force development. Differences in blood pressure (BP) were not apparent until after 8 WOD when the BP of SHRs on 2% dCa were 10-15 mmHg lower than SHRs on 1% dCa (P less than 0.05). After 8 WOD, when the BP effect first emerged, no significant differences in aortic properties were observed between the SHR groups. However, after 15 WOD, aortas of SHRs on 2% dCa were more compliant than those of SHRs on 1% dCa and between 8 and 15 WOD the sensitivity to KCl decreased in aortas from the WKY group and the SHRs on 2% dCa, but not the SHR-1% dCa group (mean effective dose went from 14.4 +/- 0.4 to 18.5 +/- 0.9 mM for WKY and from 13.6 +/- 0.6 to 17.1 +/- 1.2 mM for SHRs on 2% dCa, P less than 0.05). In addition, between 8 and 15 WOD, a significant decrease in response to a calcium (Ca2+) challenge after removal of K+ and Ca2+ occurred in aortas of the SHRs on 2% dCa, but not in the control diet groups, indicating that a decrease in aortic reactivity was present in the Ca2+-supplemented SHR.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)