Rapid Hypertensinogenic Effect of Lead: Studies in the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat

Chronic lead exposure may cause hypertension in normotensive rats. This hypertensinogenic effect has been attributed to perturbations in the renin-angiotensin axis, the contractile resporase of the vascular smooth muscle, or the intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis as a consequence of the inhibition of Na+-K+-ATPase activity. In this study we examined the short-term effect of lead exposure on blood pressure, plasma renin activity, vascular contractility, and renal Na+-K+-ATPase activity and abundance in the spontaneously hypertensive rat. Our data indicate that modest lead exposure caused blood pressure elevation within two weeks in this rat strain that is genetically susceptible to the development of hypertension. This rapid blood pressure-elevating effect did not appear to depend on the mechanisms described in hypertension associated with more chronic lead exposure listed above. This acute model provides an additional approach to the study of lead-induced hypertension.