Effect of endothelin antagonism on blood pressure and vascular structure in renovascular hypertensive rats

To investigate the potential pathogenic role of endothelin in blood pressure elevation and vascular hypertrophy in renovascular hypertensive rats, which present twofold elevations in endothelin-1 mRNA abundance in blood vessels, the response of blood pressure and vascular structure to chronic treatment with the endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan was evaluated. One-kidney, one clip (1K,1C) and two kidney, one clip (2K,1C) Goldblatt hypertensive rats were treated for 2 wk with bosentan (100 mg . kg(-1). day(-1)) in their chow, and systolic blood pressure was measured by the tail-cuff method. Vascular structure was studied in small arteries mounted on a wire myograph. Treatment with bosentan did not result in a significant change in systolic blood pressure or in the structure of small coronary, renal cortical, mesenteric, or femoral arteries in 1K,1C or in 2K,1C hypertensive rats. In conclusion, modest (twofold) elevations of endothelin-1 gene expression in blood vessels in renovascular hypertension are not associated with hypotensive responses or regression of vascular hypertrophy during treatment with endothelin antagonists in contrast to what is found in deoxycorticosterone acetate salt hypertensive rats, which exhibit very dramatic increases in endothelin-1 expression (five- to eightfold) and do respond to endothelin antagonism with blood pressure lowering and regression of vascular hypertrophy. These small elevations of vascular endothelin-1 gene expression thus do not appear to indicate the presence of an endothelin component in blood pressure elevation in renovascular hypertension in rats.