Role of endothelin-1 in blood pressure regulation in a rat model of visceral obesity and hypertension

Endothelial dysfunction has been suggested to play an important role in the development of obesity-induced hypertension. Because endothelin release increases in response to endothelial damage, we examined whether endothelin-1 contributes to increased arterial pressure in a model of visceral obesity produced by feeding Sprague-Dawley rats a high-fat (HF) diet (40% fat w/w, n=6) for 12 months. Arterial and venous catheters were implanted for measurement of mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) 24 hours per day and intravenous infusions. After a 5-day control period, rats were infused with the selective endothelin-1 type A receptor (ET-A) blocker ABT-627 (2.5 mg/kg per day, IV) for 9 days, followed by a recovery period. Rats fed a standard chow (normal fat, or NF, group: n=6) for 12 months were also infused with ET-A blocker and were used as controls. Compared with NF rats, HF rats had higher MAP (113+/-4 versus 98+/-2 mm Hg), increased visceral fat (18.7+/-2.0 versus 10.8+/-1.4 g), and 3.2-fold increase in plasma leptin despite similar total body weight gain. Long-term ET-A blockade markedly reduced MAP in HF (-14+/-3 mm Hg) and NF (-14+/-2 mm Hg), but it had no effect on HR, GFR, or PRA. These results indicate that a long-term HF diet may cause visceral obesity and increased MAP, even in the absence of major changes in total body weight. Endothelin-1 appears to play an important role in the maintenance of arterial pressure in rats fed HF and NF diets, but it does not appear to contribute to increased MAP in this model of diet-induced hypertension.