Calcium distribution in aortic smooth muscle cells of deoxycorticosterone-hypertensive rats. A quantitative cytochemical study

The effect of deoxycorticosterone (DOC)-induced hypertension on the calcium content within the aorta was studied before the increase in pressure (one week) and after the pressure had reached hypertensive levels (4 weeks). The volume density of free calcium detected ultrastructurally by pyroantimonate precipitation was quantitated by stereological techniques in aortic smooth muscle cells. An increase in the volume density of electron opaque precipitate was observed in the cytoplasm at one week of DOC treatment when neither the systolic blood pressure, the thickness of the media nor volume fraction of medial smooth muscle as compared to the extracellular space was increased significantly. The total aortic calcium as measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy was not increased at one week. By 4 weeks when the rats were hypertensive, the cytoplasmic free calcium in the smooth muscle cells and the number of peripherally-located cytoplasmic vesicles with precipitate was increased significantly. Total aortic calcium was also increased significantly in the DOC-saline group but not in the DOC group drinking tap water or in the saline drinking controls. An elevation of calcium within the cytoplasm of vascular smooth muscle cells may precede the development of hypertension and play a role in the pathogenesis of the increased blood pressure, increased medial thickness and hypertrophy of the vascular smooth muscle cells.