Morphometric evidence for non-pressure-related arterial wall thickening in hypertension

Abstract

To investigate the relation of pressure and vascular wall thickening in hypertension, we coarcted the abdominal aorta upstream to the renal arteries in 14 rats. Sham-coarcted (n = 16) and two-kidney, one-clip (Goldblatt) hypertensive rats (n = 13) served as controls. Tail, femoral, and carotid arterial pressure rose (p < 0.01) in the two-kidney, one-clip hypertensives; only carotid pressure rose (p < 0.01) in the coarcted rats, tail and femoral pressures remaining normal (p > 0.25). Thus, the hindquarters of the coarcted rats remained normotensive. Four to six weeks after surgery were perfusion-fixed vascular tissues of the hindquarters, including kidneys, with formalin at in vivo levels of pressure. Glycol methacrylate-embedded tissues were sectioned at 1 μm thickness and vessels quantitatively evaluated. The outer medial and lumen perimeters of abdominal aorta, femoral artery, and renal arterioles were measured; from these measurements, vessel outer and lumen diameters, medial thickness, medial area, and medial thickness-to-lumen radius ratios were calculated. Compared with sham-coarcted rats, abdominal aorta, femoral arteries, and renal arterioles <61 μm outer diameter in rats with coarctation and Goldblatt hypertension had significantly increased (up to + 100%) medial area, medial thickness, and medial thickness-to-lumen radius ratios. In general, magnitudes of abnormalities were similar in Goldblatt and coarcted rats. Renal arterioles >60 μm outside diameter in Goldblatt hypertenpsive, but not coarcted, rats also were thickened. These results indicate that vascular wall thickening occurs in conduit arteries and smaller renal arteriles in the normotensive hindquarters of coarcted rats, providing morphometric evidence for non-pressure-related mechanisms involved in vascular growth in this form of hypertension.