The occurrence of 11-deoxycorticosterone (DOC)-induced hypertension in the Long-Evans rat

The sensitivity of two strains of rat to the hypertensinogenic action of DOC was studied. Hypertensive cardiovascular disease was evident within 3 weeks of implantation of DOC pellets in sensitized female rats of the Sprague-Dawley and Long-Evans strains. Cardiac and renal hypertrophy due to DOC treatment was evident in both strains of rat. The DOC treatment also resulted in a significant decrease in absolute adrenal weight. These results, which indicate that Long-Evans rats are not resistant to DOC-induced hypertension, contrast with previous reports by others. An explanation of the discrepancy may be the use of free DOC rather than DOC acetate in the present study.