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(Hypertension. 1997;29:613-618.)
© 1997 American Heart Association, Inc.

Articles

Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat Y Chromosome Increases Indexes of Sympathetic Nervous System Activity

Daniel Ely; Ann Caplea; Gail Dunphy; Hamid Daneshvar; Monte Turner; Amy Milsted; Marwan Takiyyuddin

the Department of Biology, The University of Akron (Ohio), and the Department of Medicine, University of California and Department of Veterans Affairs, San Diego (M. Takiyyuddin).

Correspondence to Daniel Ely, Department of Biology, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-3908. E-mail r1dle@vm1.cc.uakron.edu

Previous studies from our laboratory have demonstrated that the Y chromosome from the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) is responsible for a significant portion of the elevated blood pressure and also produces an earlier pubertal rise in plasma testosterone. We performed the following studies to determine whether the SHR Y chromosome raises blood pressure by sympathetic nervous system responses as measured by adrenal chromogranin A and plasma and tissue catecholamines. Male SHR from The University of Akron colony were studied from 5 to 20 weeks of age. Blood pressure was measured by tail-cuff, tail artery cannulation, and aortic telemetry (Data Sciences); acute (air stress) and chronic (territorial colony) social stressors were compared; blood was collected for determination of plasma catecholamines; and adrenal glands were analyzed at 15 weeks for catecholamines. Rats with the SHR Y chromosome had higher blood pressure and plasma norepinephrine than those with the normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) Y chromosome. However, the SHR Y chromosome did not significantly change responsiveness to acute or chronic stressors. Phentolamine and clonidine prevented the stress responses. Adrenal chromogranin A levels were elevated 37% and 40% and adrenal norepinephrine content 29% and 100% at 4 and 10 weeks of age, respectively, in rats with an SHR Y chromosome compared with WKY. Chemical sympathectomy normalized blood pressure in all strains and significantly reduced norepinephrine (36% to 41%) in all strains except in WKY, which already had a normal blood pressure. In conclusion, the SHR Y chromosome appears to increase the chronic sympathetic nervous system. A potential mechanism could be a Y locus that influences chronic sympathetic nervous system activity, which may reinforce neurohumoral factors and structural components of the vessel wall, accelerating the development of hypertension.

Key Words: Y chromosome • blood pressure • norepinephrine • sympathetic nervous system • stress, social • chromogranin A

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