Effects of lipid-lowering agents in the Dahl salt-sensitive rat

Inducing renal cytochrome P4504A (P4504A) activity with clofibrate prevents the development of hypertension in Dahl salt-sensitive (Dahl S) rats. To determine if this also occurs with other antilipidemic agents, we compared the effects of a related drug, fenofibrate, with those of an unrelated agent, pravastatin, on blood pressure, renal histology, and P4504A activity. Dahl S rats were pretreated with fenofibrate (95 mg/kg per day), pravastatin (70 mg/kg per day), or vehicle for 7 days before and after being switched from a low-salt (0.1% NaCl) to a high-salt (8.0% NaCl) diet. After 3 weeks on the high-salt diet, mean arterial pressures averaged 183+/-13 (n=9), 126+/-10 (n=9), and 148+/-11 mm Hg (n=8), respectively, in vehicle-, fenofibrate-, and pravastatin-treated animals. Both drugs reduced the degree of proteinuria and glomerular injury. P4504A protein levels and the synthesis of 20-hydroxyeicosa-5,8,11,14-tetraenoic acid (20-HETE) were increased in the liver and kidney of fenofibrate-treated, but not pravastatin-treated rats. We also administered these agents to Dahl S rats in which hypertension had previously been induced by a high-salt diet. Mean arterial pressures averaged 164+/-10, 113+/-23, and 160+/-15 mm Hg in rats treated with vehicle, fenofibrate, or pravastatin for 3 weeks. Fenofibrate-treated rats exhibited a natriuresis. Proteinuria and glomerular injury were reduced by pravastatin but not by fenofibrate. These results indicate that fenofibrate prevented the development of hypertension and reduced subsequent glomerular injury in Dahl S rats, probably secondary to increased renal production of 20-HETE. Although pravastatin did not induce renal P4504A activity in these animals, it reduced the severity of hypertension and renal damage through some other mechanism.