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Enhanced vascular contractility and diminished coronary artery flow in rats made hypertensive from diet-induced obesity

International Journal of Obesity volume 31, pages 1652–1659 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

To determine whether obesity-induced hypertension was associated with alterations in vascular contractility and/or cardiac function.

Design:

Male Sprague–Dawley rats were fed either a low fat (LF; 11% kcal as fat) or a moderately high fat (MHF; 32% kcal as fat) diet for 11 weeks.

Measurements:

Body weight; mean arterial pressure; angiotensin peptides; mesenteric contractile response to phenylephrine (PE), potassium chloride (KCl), serotonin, angiotensin II (AngII), calcium chloride; baseline and isoproterenol-induced cardiac contractility; baseline and isoproterenol-induced coronary artery blood flow.

Results:

Rats fed the MHF diet segregated into obesity-prone (OP) and obesity-resistant (OR) groups. OP rats exhibited elevations in mean arterial pressure (MAP) and elevations in systemic concentrations of angiotensin peptides. Mesenteric arteries from OP rats exhibited a greater contractile response to PE, KCl and serotonin (5-HT). Heightened responses to PE persisted in arteries from OP rats even after normalization of the response to KCl. In contrast, the response of permeabilized mesenteric arteries to a maximal concentration of calcium was similar in rats from each group. Isolated perfused hearts exhibited similar baseline and isoproterenol-induced contractility in rats from each group. However, isoproterenol was unable to increase coronary artery blood flow in hearts from OP rats.

Conclusion:

Enhanced vascular reactivity may contribute to obesity-induced hypertension, while reductions in coronary artery relaxation would impair the ability of the heart to respond to increased myocardial demand.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by National Heart Lung and Blood Institute Grant HL-73085 (L Cassis), and through an American Heart Association Grant-in-Aid 0455159B (W Akers).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Center for Nutritional Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    C M Boustany-Kari, M Gong & L A Cassis

  2. Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    M Gong & Z Guo

  3. Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    W S Akers

Authors
  1. C M Boustany-Kari
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  2. M Gong
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  3. W S Akers
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  4. Z Guo
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  5. L A Cassis
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Correspondence to L A Cassis.

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Boustany-Kari, C., Gong, M., Akers, W. et al. Enhanced vascular contractility and diminished coronary artery flow in rats made hypertensive from diet-induced obesity. Int J Obes 31, 1652–1659 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803426

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