Evaluation of blood volume in an animal model of high salt-induced hypertension

• Grant number: 19/23588-0
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2020
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems
• Principal Investigator: Vagner Roberto Antunes
• Grantee: Júlia Santos Batista
• Home Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Hypertension is a high-risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases. In 2017, circulatory diseases were responsible for 27% of the percentage of deaths, representing the leading cause of mortality in Brazil. Hyperosmolarity condition, caused by an excess of salt intake, is directly related to the development of hypertension. Although widely recognized in clinical practice as a trigger for hypertension, experimentally, the complex mechanisms that high salt intake leads to hypertension are not completely understood. However, several evidences correlate a neurogenic origin of the disease, in which there is an imbalance in autonomic control, with the increase in sympathetic drive, favoring constant neuronal excitability that leads to an increase in blood pressure. Several experimental animal models have been used to study hypertension. Our laboratory has developed a high salt-induced hypertension model where we replace the drinking water by a solution of NaCl 2%, which causes a significant increase in plasma osmolality and in the blood pressure level. Previous studies from our laboratory have already shown that this high-salt model leads to an increase in the sympathetic nerve activity, and consequently causing as we call neurogenic hypertension. However, we still do not know whether this high salt model could also evoke changes in the hydro electrolytic balance and changes in the volemia, which could be a combined effect for developing hypertension at this animal model. Thus, the aim of this project is to evaluate whether salt-induced hypertension with the experimental animal model exposed to a drinking solution of NaCl 2% is associated with changes in blood volume. (AU)