Cardiac hypertrophy in experimental hypertension: interaction of the sodium ion, blood pressure and lisinopril

The interaction of blood pressure, salt intake and the inhibition of angiotensin converting enzyme activity with cardiac hypertrophy were examined in the Dahl rat model. Eight-week-old salt sensitive and salt resistant rats were each separated into two colonies, one of which was maintained on a low salt and the other on a high salt diet for three weeks, at the end of which time both salt sensitive colonies were hypertensive. Each colony was then separated into two groups, one received no medication the other was given lisinopril until normotension was achieved. After 11 weeks of therapy, intra-arterial blood pressures and heart rates were recorded. The rats were sacrificed and heart weight to body weight ratios were determined. Both untreated salt sensitive groups displayed marked cardiac hypertrophy which correlated well with diastolic blood pressure irrespective of salt intake. Lisinopril therapy lowered blood pressures to normotensive levels in all groups except for salt sensitive rats ingesting a high salt diet where, despite a 10-fold increase in drug dose, normotension was not achieved. Significant cardiac regression accompanied lisinopril therapy in rats receiving low salt diets but high salt intake severely attenuated regression in both strains. There was no significant correlation between heart weight and blood pressure in the treated groups. The results suggest that cardiac regression appears to be mediated by other factors besides ventricular afterload pressure and that high salt intake adversely affects blood pressure and heart weight response to lisinopril therapy.