[Hormonal contribution to short-term variability of blood pressure in a renovascular hypertension model]

Spectral analysis was recently chosen to characterize the fast oscillations depending on the autonomic nervous system. Humoral stimuli could impinge on low frequency (LF) domain of blood pressure (BP) since the time lag to humoral systems activation is larger. This study was designed to analyse LF components of short-term variability of BP of conscious rats in conditions where humoral systems were activated. We studied rats with two-kidney Goldblatt hypertension in which the BP level was dependent upon the renin-angiotensin and kallikrein-kinin systems. Spectral powers of the systolic and diastolic BP and heart rate (HR) were computed in the high (respiratory, HF), mid (0.2-0.6 Hz, MF) and low (0.02-0.2 Hz, LF) frequency bands, as detected by the Fast Fourier Transform technique on consecutive 102-s stationary periods. Renal hypertension by a two-kidney one clip procedure was associated with a marked rise in SBP (+47 mmHg) and no significant change in HR. Renal hypertension selectively increased the LF component of SBP (+86%) when hypertensive rats were compared to sham operated animals. First, administration of losartan, a selective nonpeptide angiotensin II receptor antagonist, to sham rats resulted in a moderate SBP decrease, a significant tachycardia (+47 batt/min) with no change in BP and HR spectra profiles. Losartan determined in the hypertensive group a marked fall in SBP (-25 mmHg) with a significant tachycardia (+50 batt/min). Interestingly, losartan reduced the LF component of SBP (-26%). In a second series of normotensive and hypertensive rats, Hoe 140, a bradykinin B-2 receptor antagonist, did not affect the BP and HR levels of the two groups of rats. Hoe 140 decreased the LF component of SBP variability (-28%). Losartan, added after Hoe 140, decreased the BP (-17 mmHg) in association with a tachycardia (+59 batt/min) and induced a supplementary decrease of the LF component of SBP variability (-60%) in hypertensive rats. After the combined blockade, the LF component of SBP of the hypertensive rats was equivalent to that of the sham rats. Thus, an increase in the LF component of BP variability was observed in a model of hypertension where the BP is dependent upon humoral factors. The contribution of the renin-angiotensin and kallikrein-kinin systems in the slow fluctuations of BP was demonstrated using two specific antagonists losartan and Hoe 140.