Solid plexiglass clips to induce reproducible renal hypertension in the rat

Objective: The objective of this study was to induce reproducible renal hypertension in rats using plexiglass clips, and to compare it with that induced by silver clips. Materials and Methods: Saw blades (0.21-0.22 mm thick ) were used to make clips (4 x 2 x 2 mm) from a piece of 2-mm thick plexiglass. Rats were subjected to sham-operation or placement of plexiglass or silver clips around left renal artery, and 4 weeks later their mean blood pressure (MBP, mmHg), heart rate (HR, bpm), and heart weight (HW), left kidney weight (LKW), right kidney weight (RKW) and body weight (BW, g) were determined. The RKW, LKW and HW were calculated as a percentage of body weight. Results: Four weeks after sham-operation or placement of clips around renal artery, MBP, HW and RKW were significantly higher and LKW was significantly lower in left renal artery-clipped rats using plexiglass or silver clips than sham-operated ones. There was also no significant differnce among the values of HR or BW from the 3 groups. Moreover, there was no significant difference among MBP, HR, LKW, RKW or BW from sham-operated or renal artery-clipped rats. Conclusion: The findings suggest that placement of solid plexiglass clips around left renal artery resulted in hypertension comparable to that induced by silver clips.