Salt loading augments vascular responses to indomethacin in stroke-prone SHR

We examined whether endogenous prostaglandins (PGs) participated in control of hindquarters vascular resistance during salt loading in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rates (SHR-SP). SHR-SP and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) were fed either a normal (0.3% NaCl) or high (8% NaCl) salt diet for 5 wk. High salt increased blood pressure and hindquarter vascular resistance (VR) in SHR-SP (P less than 0.01) but not in WKY. Indomethacin given intravenously increased hindquarter VR in SHR-SP during high salt as well as during normal salt (P less than 0.01) but not in either group of WKY. In SHR-SP the increase in hindquarter VR by PG synthesis inhibitors were two times greater during high salt than during normal salt (P less than 0.01). In addition, hindquarter vasodilatation by bradykinin was greater (P less than 0.05) in SHR-SP during high salt than that during normal salt, but vasodilatation by prostaglandin E1 or nitroglycerin was not different between the two groups. These results suggest that vascular synthesis of endogenous PGs was greater in SHR-SP during high salt than that during normal salt. Increased endogenous PGs may play an important role in the regulation of hindquarter VR during high salt intake in SHR-SP.