Renal AT1 receptor: computerized quantification in spontaneously hypertensive rats and DOCA-salt rats

To assess the involvement of angiotensin II (Ang II) in the regulation of blood pressure, we investigated the alterations of renal Ang II type 1 (AT1) receptors in two different models of hypertension; i.e., in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt hypertensive rats by using the method for quantification of in vitro macro-autoradiography (ARG). In the SHR model, although the number of cortical AT1 receptors equaled that of Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats at 4 and 12 weeks of age, the number of medullary AT1 receptors in the 4-week-old SHR animals was significantly lower than that in age-matched WKY rats, and increased by 12 weeks of age. The renal AT1 receptor number in DOCA-salt hypertensive rats was significantly higher than that in control rats. The amount of these receptors also increased with age in both DOCA-salt hypertensive rats and control rats. These findings indicate that the development of medullary AT1 receptors in early stages of hypertension in the SHR model differs from that in WKY rats or DOCA-salt hypertensive rats. This suggests that renal AT1 receptors may contribute to the hypertension seen in the SHR group. The renal AT1 receptors appear to be up-regulated in early stages of DOCA-salt-induced hypertension as well.