Effect of renal denervation on elevation of blood pressure in cold-exposed rats

The objective of this experiment was to determine whether bilateral renal denervation (RD) prevents the elevation of blood pressure and cardiac hypertrophy characteristically induced by chronic exposure to cold. Four groups (nine male rats each) were used. The kidneys of two groups were bilaterally denervated, while the remaining two groups were sham operated. Systolic blood pressures of the four groups, measured indirectly from the tail, did not differ significantly during the control period and following RD. At this time, 1 RD and 1 sham-operated group was exposed to cold (5 degrees C, 41 degrees F). The remaining RD and sham-operated groups were kept at 25 degrees C. Blood pressure of the cold-exposed, sham-operated group increased significantly during the 1st week of cold exposure (125 +/- 2 mmHg; 1 mmHg = 133.3 Pa), and rose to 139 +/- 4 mmHg by the 5th week, whereas the blood pressure of the RD group exposed to cold remained at the control level (116 +/- 2 mmHg). Both RD and sham-operated cold-exposed groups developed cardiac hypertrophy with significantly increased resting heart rates compared with controls kept at 25 degrees C. Plasma renin activities and renal norepinephrine content of kidneys of both RD groups at 7 weeks after RD were significantly less than those of sham-operated controls, confirming that renal nerves had been severed. Thus, RD prevented the elevation of blood pressure induced by chronic exposure to cold but had no significant effect on cardiac hypertrophy.