Structural “Resetting” of the Renal Vascular Bed in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (SHR)

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Abstract
Studies in both man and rats (cf. Folkow et al. 1973, 1974) show that a rapid structural adaptation occurs early in hypertension which, besides the left heart and systemic arteries, affects the precapillary resistance vessels in a hemodynamically most important way. Here a wall (mainly media) thickening takes place which tends to encroach upon the inner radius, thus raising the w/ri ratio. The rapidity, generalization and extent of this precapillary ‘“structural autoregulation” to average changes in pressure load makes it crucial both for the initiation and maintenance of a chronic high‐pressure state, whichever the initiating elements are. The same principle of hypertrophic adaptation in the left heart and large arteries leads to a functionally important displacement of the “Starling curve” towards the right (Hallbäck, Isaksson and Noresson 1975) and to baroreceptor resetting (e.g. Jones 1977).