The effect of prolonged infusion and withdrawal of angiotensin II in the spontaneously hypertensive rat

Abstract

In spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and their normotensive Wistar–Kyoto controls (WKY), prolonged intravenous administration of angiotensin II (AII, 0.2 μg∙kg⁻¹∙min⁻¹ for 3 h) resulted in similar increases in arterial blood pressure. Heart rate decreased in WKY and increased in SHR. At the end of the infusion, blood pressure dropped substantially in SHR, but not in WKY: at 5 h after AII withdrawal, blood pressure in SHR had fallen from a control value of 172 ± 3.3 to 146 ± 3.9 mmHg (p < 0.01), whereas pressure in WKY had fallen from 116 ± 3.0 to 107 ± 4.2 mmHg (statistically non significant). Thus, pressure at 5 h after AII withdrawal was still substantially higher (p < 0.01) in the SHR than in the WKY. The results demonstrate that the fall in blood pressure following withdrawal of a prolonged infusion of AII in SHR is much less than that reported to occur following withdrawal of a prolonged infusion of vasopressin (AVP) in SHR.