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(Hypertension. 2005;46:477.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial Commentaries

Potassium Depletion and Cardiac Hypertrophy

How Does It Work?

Joseph I. Shapiro

From the Department of Medicine, Medical University of Ohio at Toledo.

Correspondence to Joseph Shapiro, Medical University of Ohio at Toledo, Department of Medicine, 3120 Glendale Ave, Toledo, OH 43614. E-mail jshapiro@meduohio.edu

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

For a number of years, many clinicians have believed that potassium depletion should be avoided in the treatment of hypertension, and that potassium supplementation might be advantageous in such patients.¹ The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, a diet that is low in sodium and replete with potassium, is now being recommended as a standard lifestyle modification for patients with hypertension or other cardiovascular risk factors.² Cardiac hypertrophy is a well-known complication of hypertension that is believed to have substantial consequences in afflicted patients.³ However, the interactions between potassium supplementation, blood pressure, and cardiac hypertrophy are still incompletely understood.

In this issue of Hypertension, Dr Burnier’s laboratory reports that potassium supplementation ameliorates both renal and cardiac hypertrophy in both 1 and 2 renin-gene mice given deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA) and sodium supplementation. Furthermore, these scientists are able to dissociate the effects of potassium supplementation on blood pressure from the effects on organ hypertrophy. Specifically, these authors demonstrated that whereas potassium supplementation did lower blood pressure in the 2-renin gene mice that developed substantial hypertension with DOCA and sodium supplementation, it did not significantly affect blood pressure in the normotensive 1-renin gene mouse that also developed cardiac and renal hypertrophy, the former to a lesser degree than seen in the 2-renin gene model supplemented with DOCA and sodium.⁴ We should note that the authors chose to effect potassium replacement by using potassium chloride rather than combining potassium with other anions. It is clear that combining potassium with anions that generate . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Potassium Supplementation Reduces Cardiac and Renal Hypertrophy Independent of Blood Pressure in DOCA/Salt Mice

Qing Wang, Andrea A. Domenighetti, Thierry Pedrazzini, and Michel Burnier
Hypertension 2005 46: 547-554. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]