Effect of cross-fostering in hypertensive and normotensive rats: evaluation of hemodynamic parameters, cardiac and microcirculation remodeling

• Grant number: 16/16763-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2016
• End date: October 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems
• Principal Investigator: Luciana Venturini Rossoni
• Grantee: Aline Dombek
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Hypertension is a disease of multiple causes, characterized by the chronic elevation of arterial blood pressure (ABP) levels. It is important to understand the mechanisms involved in the genesis and maintenance of essential hypertension, especially due to the high prevalence of this disease amongst other cardiovascular pathologies and because it is an illness without healing, for which the therapeutic strategies that aim its control are available, however are not completely effective. It is well known several risk factors involved in the development of hypertension, such as: overweight, aging, nutritional deficiency, physical inactivity, maternal-fetal environment, among others. The present project focuses to evaluate breast milk and the microbiota as a possible risk factor for hypertension. Thus, we will use two strains of rats, Wistar (normotensive) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), submitted to cross-fostering. It has been shown that SHR breastfeed by mothers normotensive present a delay in the development of hypertension or even a reduction in ABP compared to those observed in SHR breastfeed by hypertensive biological mother. Although some studies correlate adjustments in renal function and structure and in renin angiotensin system as possible targets of the development of HA in response to cross-fostering, the focus of this study is to evaluate the changes in the postnatal environment in the cardiac and microcirculation remodeling in the offspring submitted to cross-fostering. Thus, the aim of the present project is to evaluate the hemodynamic effects, the cardiac remodeling and microcirculation adjustments in skeletal muscle in SHR and normotensive rats cross-fostered.