Effects of high-sodium intake on systemic blood pressure and vascular responses in spontaneously diabetic WBN/Kob-Leprfa/fa rats

Abstract

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension has markedly increased worldwide. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of a high-salt intake on the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and vascular responses in WBN/Kob-Leprfa/fa (WBKDF) rats, a new spontaneous animal model of T2DM. Male WBKDF rats and age-matched Wistar rats at 6 weeks of age were each divided into two groups and fed either a normal-sodium (NS, 0.26%) diet or high-sodium (HS, 8%) diet for 14 weeks: (i) Wistar rats on NS diet (Wistar-NS); (ii) Wistar rats on HS diet (Wistar-HS); (iii) WBKDF rats on NS diet (WBKDF-NS); (iv) WBKDF rats on HS diets (WBKDF-HS). Neither WBKDF-NS nor Wistar-NS rats showed significant changes in SBP throughout the experiment, but both WBKDF-HS and Wistar-HS exhibited significant elevation of SBP, which was more prominent (P