1. ¹Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
2. ²Department of Pharmacology, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
3. ³Division of Renal Pathology, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
4. ⁴Department of Medicine IV, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
5. ⁵Department of Medicine III, University of Jena, Jena, Germany

Correspondence: U Wenzel, Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University Hospital of Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, Hamburg 20246, Germany. E-mail: wenzel@uke.uni-hamburg.de

Received 8 July 2007; Revised 22 August 2007; Accepted 5 September 2007; Published online 21 November 2007.

Abstract

The C57BL/6 mouse strain serves as the genetic background of many transgenic and gene knockout models; however, this strain appears to be resistant to hypertension-induced renal injury. We developed a new model of hypertensive end-organ damage in C57BL/6 mice by combining deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA) and salt with angiotensin II infusion. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) was significantly elevated in DOCA salt–angiotensin II mice compared to control mice or mice treated individually with DOCA salt or angiotensin II. Hypertensive glomerular damage, increased expression of profibrotic and inflammatory genes, albuminuria, tubular casts, increased plasma cholesterol, cardiac hypertrophy, and fibrosis were found in mice treated with DOCA salt–angiotensin II. The SBP in the angiotensin II-infused group was further increased by increasing the infusion rate; only mild injury was observed in these mice, suggesting that blood pressure was not a causal factor. Removal of DOCA and the angiotensin pump lowered blood pressure to normal; however, albuminuria along with the glomerular and cardiac damage did not completely resolve. Our study describes a new model of hypertensive end-organ damage and repair in C57BL/6 mice.