Importance of renal sympathetic tone in the development of DOCA-salt hypertension in the rat.

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Abstract
In many experimental models, acute increases in sympathetic nervous system activity produce disproportionately greater vasoconstriction in the renal vascular bed than occurs in most other vascular beds. Since increased sympathetic nervous system activity has been implicated in the pathogenesis of DOCA-salt hypertension in the rat, we hypothesized that an attenuation of renal sympathetic tone would delay the development of this form of hypertension. Renal denervation was carried out in 5-week-old uninephrectomized male Sprague-Dawley rats 1 week before beginning DOCA-salt treatment. Systolic blood pressures using the tailcuff method in 32 sham-operated rats were significantly (p less than 0.05) elevated above control by Day five (115 +/- 3 vs 128 +/- 3 mm Hg) of DOCA-salt administration and continued to rise, reaching a plateau by Day 21 (192 +/- 5 mm Hg). In contrast, DOCA-salt administration in 32 renal denervated rats did not result in a significant elevation of blood pressure above control until Day 17...