METABOLISM OF ARACHIDONIC ACID IN THE AORTA OF SPONTANEOUSLY HYPERTENSIVE RATS

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Abstract
1. The metabolism of [14C]-arachidonic acid has been studied in isolated aortae from age-matched spontaneously hypertensive (SH) rats and their normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WK) controls. 2. High pressure liquid chromatography of extracts of the incubation mixture from both SH and WK rats revealed the presence of 6-oxo-prostaglandin F1 alpha, the hydration product of prostacyclin, and a single, broad peak of unknown metabolites. No thromboxane B2, or prostaglandins E2 of F2 alpha could be detected in aortic incubations. 3. The SH rats produced significantly more 6-oxo-prostaglandin F1 alpha than the WK rats, but there was no difference between the strains in the proportion of label appearing in the unknown peak of the chromatograms. 4. These data confirm that vascular tissue of SH rats has enhanced ability to transform arachidonic acid into prostacyclin. Induction of these enzymes may be an adaptive response to elevated blood pressure, but the mechanism of this effect has yet to be elucidated.