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Background: This study analyzed the effects of chronic administration of N[omega]-hydroxy-nor-l-arginine (nor-NOHA), an inhibitor of arginase, on the hemodynamic, oxidative stress, morphologic, metabolic, and renal manifestations of hyperthyroidism in rats., Methods: Four groups of male Wistar rats were used: control, nor-NOHA-treated (10 mg/kg/day), thyroxine (T4)-treated (75 μg/rat/day), and thyroxine- plus nor-NOHA-treated rats. All treatments were maintained for 4 weeks. Body weight, tail systolic blood pressure (SBP), and heart rate (HR) were recorded weekly. Finally, morphologic, metabolic, plasma, and renal variables were measured. Arginase I and II protein abundance and arginase activity were measured in aorta, heart, and kidney., Results: The T4 group showed increased arginase I and II protein abundance, arginase activity, SBP, HR, plasma nitrates/nitrites (NOx), brainstem and urinary isoprostanes, proteinuria and cardiac and renal hypertrophy in comparison to control rats. In hyperthyroid rats, chronic nor-NOHA prevented the increase in SBP and HR and decreased proteinuria in association with an increase in plasma NOx and a decrease in brainstem and urinary isoprostanes. In normal rats, nor-NOHA treatment did not significantly change any hemodynamic, morphologic, or renal variables. Acute nor-NOHA administration did not affect renal or systemic hemodynamic variables in normal or T4-treated rats., Conclusion: Hyperthyroidism in rats is associated with the increased expression and activity of arginase in aorta, heart, and kidney. Chronic arginase inhibition with nor-NOHA suppresses the characteristic hemodynamic manifestations of hyperthyroidism in association with a reduced oxidative stress. These results indicate an important role for arginase pathway alterations in the cardiovascular and renal abnormalities of hyperthyroidism., (© American Journal of Hypertension, Ltd 2015. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Oxidative stress contributes to the development of several cardiovascular diseases, including diabetes, renal insufficiency, and arterial hypertension. Animal studies have evidenced the association between higher blood pressure (BP) and increased oxidative stress, and treatment with antioxidants has been shown to reduce BP, while BP reduction due to antihypertensive drugs is associated with reduced oxidative stress. In 2000, it was first reported that oxidative stress and arterial hypertension were produced in normal Sprague-Dawley rats by oral administration of buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), which induces glutathione (GSH) depletion, indicating that oxidative stress may induce hypertension. The contribution of several potential pathogenic factors has been evaluated in the BSO rat model, the prototype of oxidative stress-induced hypertension, including vascular reactivity, endothelium-derived factors, renin-angiotensin system activity, TXA(2)-PGH(2) production, sodium sensitivity, renal dopamine-induced natriuresis, and sympathetic tone. This review summarizes the main factors implicated in the pathogenesis of BSO-induced hypertension and the alterations associated with GSH depletion that are related to renal function or BP control.

Background: We investigated the contribution of the sympathetic tone to the hypertension induced by chronic administration of buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) and characterized this model in mice., Methods: Three experiments were performed. In experiment I, four groups of CBA-C57 male mice were used: controls and three groups that received oral BSO at 5, 10, or 20 mmol/l. In experiment II, the alpha(1)-adrenergic blocker prazosin was orally administered (10 mg/100 ml) to control and BSO-treated mice. All treatments were maintained for 5 weeks. Body weight (BW), tail blood pressure (BP), and heart rate (HR) were measured weekly. Direct mean arterial pressure (MAP) and morphological, metabolic, plasma, and renal variables were measured at the end of the experiments. In experiment III, the acute response of MAP and HR to the ganglionic blocker pentolinium (10 mg/kg intravenous) was used to further evaluate the sympathetic contribution to BP and HR in control and BSO-treated mice., Results: BSO produced dose-related increases in BP (control, 115 +/- 0.5; BSO-5, 141 +/- 0.5; BSO-10, 151 +/- 0.9; BSO-20, 163 +/- 1.1 mm Hg) and HR and augmented plasma noradrenaline, brainstem isoprostane levels, and total urinary isoprostane excretion. BSO did not produce cardiac hypertrophy and did not modify metabolic or plasma variables, or creatinine clearance, proteinuria, or renal morphology. Chronic prazosin markedly reduced MAP (control, 101 +/- 4.7; prazosin, 95 +/- 1.29; BSO-10, 130 +/- 2.9; BSO-10 +/- prazosin, 98 +/- 0.9) and HR. Acute pentolinium produced a greater percentage MAP (control, 43 +/- 4.2; BSO-10, 66 +/- 4.5) and HR decrease in BSO-treated mice vs. controls., Conclusion: Sympathetic tone plays a major role in the increased BP and HR of BSO hypertensive mice.

The experimental model of chronic inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) production has proven to be a useful tool to study cardiovascular and renal lesions produced by this type of hypertension, which are similar to those found in human hypertension. It also offers a unique opportunity to study the interaction of NO with the humoral systems, known to have a role in the normal physiology of vascular tone and renal function. This review provides a thorough and updated analysis of the interactions of NO with the endocrine system. There is special focus on the main vasoactive factors, including the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, catecholamines, vasopressin, and endothelin among others. Recent discoveries of crosstalk between the endocrine system and NO are also reported. Study of these humoral interactions indicates that NO is a molecule with ubiquitous function and that its inhibition alters virtually to all other known regulatory systems. Thus, hypothyroidism attenuates the pressor effect of NO inhibitor N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester, whereas hyperthyroidism aggravates the effects of NO synthesis inhibition; the sex hormone environment determines the blood pressure response to NO blockade; NO may play a homeostatic role against the prohypertensive effects of mineralocorticoids, thyroid hormones and insulin; and finally, NO deficiency affects not only blood pressure but also glucose and lipid homeostasis, mimicking the human metabolic syndrome X, suggesting that NO deficiency may be a link between metabolic and cardiovascular disease.

This review focuses on the effects of thyroid hormones in vascular and renal systems. Special emphasis is given to the mechanisms by which thyroid hormones affect the regulation of body fluids, vascular resistance and, ultimately, blood pressure. Vascular function is markedly affected by thyroid hormones that produce changes in vascular reactivity and endothelial function in hyper- and hypothyroidism. The hypothyroid state is accompanied by a marked decrease in sensitivity to vasoconstrictors, especially to sympathetic agonists, alteration that may play a role in the reduced blood pressure of hypothyroid rats, as well as in the preventive effects of hypothyroidism on experimental hypertension. Moreover, in hypothyroid rats, the endothelium-dependent and nitric oxide donors vasodilation is reduced. Conversely, the vessels from hyperthyroid rats showed an increased endothelium-dependent responsiveness that may be secondary to the shear-stress induced by the hyperdynamic circulation, and that may contribute to the reduced vascular resistance characteristic of this disease. Thyroid hormones also have important effects in the kidney, affecting renal growth, renal haemodynamics, and salt and water metabolism. In hyperthyroidism, there is a resetting of the pressure-natriuresis relationship related to hyperactivity of the renin-angiotensin system, which contributes to the arterial hypertension associated with this endocrine disease. Moreover, thyroid hormones affect the development and/or maintenance of various forms of arterial hypertension. This review also describes recent advances in our understanding of thyroid hormone action on nitric oxide and oxidative stress in the regulation of cardiovascular and renal function and in the long-term control of blood pressure.

Background: This study analyzed whether hypertension induced by N(omega)-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) is associated with dysregulation of the main antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase [SOD], catalase, glutathione peroxidase [GPX], and glutathione reductase [GR]) and whether chronic administration of tempol ameliorates this hypertension., Methods: Four groups of male Wistar rats were used: 1) control rats; 2) rats treated with L-NAME (35 mg/100 mL in drinking fluid); 3) rats treated with tempol (18 mg/100 mL in drinking fluid); and 4) rats treated with L-NAME plus tempol. All treatments were maintained for 6 weeks. Body weight, systolic blood pressure (BP) determined by the tail-cuff method, and heart rate were measured once per week. At the end of the experimental period, direct BP and morphologic, metabolic, plasma, and renal variables were measured. Enzymatic activities were measured in the kidney (cortex and medulla) and heart (right and left ventricles)., Results: Rats with L-NAME-induced hypertension showed increased copper-zinc (Cu-Zn) SOD activity in the renal cortex and medulla and the left and right ventricles, which was reduced by tempol administration. The manganese (Mn) SOD activity was increased by L-NAME and reduced by tempol in the renal cortex but was unchanged in other tissues. Catalase activity was not affected by L-NAME or tempol treatments in any tissue. Both GPX and GR activities were increased by L-NAME and reduced by tempol in the renal cortex and medulla but were not affected in the ventricles. Tempol reduced BP and total urinary excretion of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine in L-NAME-treated animals but did not affect either variable in controls., Conclusions: We conclude that L-NAME-induced hypertension is associated with an upregulation of antioxidant SOD, GPX, and GR activities. Moreover, the results indicate that tempol attenuates hypertension on nitric oxide-deficient rats and that oxidative stress participates in the established phase of this type of hypertension.

Background: This study investigates the effects of chronic administration of omapatrilat (OMA) on blood pressure (BP), renal injury, and other variables in N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) hypertension and in the low-renin model produced by the simultaneous administration of L-NAME and deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)., Methods: The control, DOCA, L-NAME, L-NAME + DOCA, L-NAME + OMA, and L-NAME + DOCA + OMA groups were used. Tail systolic BP was measured twice a week. After 4 weeks of treatment, mean arterial pressure (MAP), and metabolic, morphologic, and renal variables were measured., Results: The final values of MAP were 109 +/- 5.1 mm Hg for the control group, 113 +/- 3.0 mm Hg for DOCA, 175 +/- 3.7 mm Hg for L-NAME, 193 +/- 3.8 mm Hg for L-NAME + DOCA, 117 +/- 3.9 mm Hg for L-NAME + OMA, and 158 +/- 3.0 mm Hg for L-NAME + DOCA + OMA. The rats treated with L-NAME showed mild and scarce renal lesions, which were prevented by OMA treatment and the L-NAME + DOCA group showed proteinuria and hyaline arteriopathy, which were markedly attenuated in the L-NAME + DOCA + OMA group. Plasma urea and creatinine were significantly increased in the L-NAME + DOCA group, whereas these variables were not significantly greater in the L-NAME + DOCA + OMA group versus controls. The L-NAME + DOCA group showed relative renal and cardiac hypertrophy that was not observed in the L-NAME + DOCA + OMA group., Conclusions: The simultaneous blockade of neutral endopeptidase (NEP) and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) completely prevents L-NAME hypertension. Our results also show that OMA attenuates the increased BP and the renal injury in L-NAME hypertensive rats treated with DOCA. Assuming that this is a low-renin model of hypertension, the protective effect of OMA may be due to an increase in vasodilator peptides produced by both ACE and NEP inhibition.

Objective: Thyroid disorders are accompanied by important changes in haemodynamic and cardiac functions and renal sodium handling. Since nitric oxide (NO) plays a crucial role in regulating vascular tone and renal sodium excretion, the present paper was designed to determine whether changes in the activity of NO synthase (NOS) participate in the cardiovascular and renal manifestations of thyroid disorders., Methods: We measured NOS activity in the heart (left and right ventricles), vessels (aorta and cava) and kidney (cortex and medulla) of euthyroid, hyperthyroid and hypothyroid rats after 6 weeks of treatment. NOS activity was determined by measuring the conversion of L-[(3)H]-arginine to L-[(3)H]-citruline., Results: NOS activity was higher in all tissues from hyperthyroid rats when compared with controls, except in the right ventricle. In the hypothyroid group, NOS activity showed a more heterogeneous pattern, with significant increases in both ventricles but significant reduction in the aorta, while in the vena cava, renal cortex and medulla the enzyme activity also tended to be higher, but significance was not reached., Conclusions: These data indicated that NOS activity was upregulated in tissues primarily related to blood pressure control in hyperthyroid rats, suggesting that an increased NO production may contribute to the hyperdynamic circulation in hyperthyroidism and may have a protective homeostatic effect in the target organs of the hypertension that accompanies this endocrine disease. The aortic and renal findings in hypothyroid rats suggested a possible role for NOS in the increased peripheral resistance and the normal pressure-diuresis-natriuresis response of these hypotensive animals, although hypothyroidism produced a heterogeneous tissue response in NOS activity.