Smooth Muscle Specific Deletion of Ndst1 Leads to Decreased Vessel Luminal Area and No Change in Blood Pressure in Conscious Mice

Heparan sulfate proteoglycans are abundant matrix and membrane molecules. Smooth muscle specific deletion of one heparan sulfate biosynthetic enzyme, N -deacetylase- N -sulfotransferase1 leads to decreased vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation, and vascular wall thickness. We hypothesized that this may lead to changes in blood pressure in conscious mice. Blood pressure was measured via telemetry in SM22αCre + Ndst1 −/− ( n = 4) and wild type ( n = 8) mice. Aorta and thoracodorsal artery luminal area is significantly smaller in SM22αCre + Ndst1 −/− ( n = 4–8, P = 0.02, P = 0.0002) compared to wild type ( n = 7) mice. Diurnal differences were observed in both cohorts for systolic, diastolic, mean arterial blood pressure, and heart rate ( P