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(Hypertension. 1997;29:992-998.)
© 1997 American Heart Association, Inc.

Articles

Mechanical Stress of the Carotid Artery at the Early Phase of Spontaneous Hypertension in Rats

Roberto S. Cunha; Hubert Dabiré; Ivonic Bezie; Anne Marie Weiss; Kamel Chaouche-Teyara; Stéphane Laurent; Michel E. Safar; ; Patrick Lacolley

From Department of Internal Medicine (M.E.S.), Department of Pharmacology (S.L.), and Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U337 (H.D., I.B., K.C.-T., P.L., M.E.S.), Broussais Hospital, Paris, France; Department of Pathology, Meaux (France) Hospital (A.M.W.); and Department of Physiology, UFES, Victoria, ES, Brazil (R.S.C.).

Correspondence to Prof Michel Safar, Médecine Interne 1, Hôpital Broussais, 96 rue Didot, 75674, Paris Cedex 14, France.

Abstract Common carotid artery (CCA) hypertrophy has long been recognized in the neonatal period of development in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), but the mean circumferential and shear stresses acting on the arterial wall have never been investigated in vivo. We investigated intra-arterial blood pressure in conscious rats, CCA diameter (echotracking techniques), blood flow velocity (pulsed Doppler), wall thickness (histomorphometry), and ganglionic blockade (hexamethonium) in Wistar rats and SHR at 5 and 12 weeks of age. During this interval, weight gain was identical in the strains, whereas the increase in wall thickness and blood pressure was greater in SHR. CCA diameter was identical at week 5 and increased similarly at week 12 in both strains. During ganglionic blockade, a larger diameter was observed in SHR at week 5 for the same BP level, whereas equivalent values were observed at week 12. Blood flow velocity decreased with age but to a significantly greater extent in SHR. Mean circumferential stress and shear stress index were identical in both strains at week 12. However, from weeks 5 to 12, mean circumferential stress increased with age similarly in both strains, whereas the age-related decrease in mean shear stress index was much greater in SHR than Wistar rats. Thus, despite a higher blood pressure, SHR exhibit the same carotid diameter as Wistar rats during early development. Because the kinetics of shear stress are different in both strains, altered flow-dilatation mechanisms, and possibly resulting endothelial dysfunction, may be involved in the diameter changes.

Key Words: rats, inbred SHR • hypertrophy • carotid artery, common • echotracking techniques • shear stress

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