Maternal endothelial nitric oxide synthase genotype influences offspring blood pressure and activity in mice.

Deficiencies in maternal endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) have been associated with pregnancy complications, intrauterine growth retardation, and altered vascular function in offspring. In the present study, we investigated the influence of the maternal eNOS genotype on offspring's blood pressure, heart rate, and locomotor activity. The effect of maternal eNOS genotype was made by comparing telemetered blood pressure and activity between 2 groups of 13- to 16-week-old male heterozygous eNOS knockout mice, 1 produced by a cross of eNOS knockout (eNOS-/-) mothers and wild-type (eNOS+/+) fathers (eNOS(+/-MAT) offspring, N=11), the other by a cross of eNOS+/+ mothers and eNOS-/- fathers (eNOS(+/-PAT) offspring, N=10). Data were also collected for homozygous eNOS-/- and eNOS+/+ mice (N=15 each). Heterozygous eNOS knockout mice exhibited blood pressures that were intermediate to the eNOS+/+ and eNOS-/- groups. Relative to eNOS(+/-PAT) mice, eNOS(+/-MAT) mice exhibited significant increases in nocturnal diastolic arterial pressure and diurnal variations (dark-light difference) in systolic, mean, and diastolic arterial pressure. In addition, indices of spontaneous nocturnal locomotor activity, including both the proportion of time spent active and the intensity of activity when active, were also significantly increased. Heart rate did not differ between the groups. Our results suggest that the maternal eNOS genotype influences both blood pressure and behavior of offspring, possibly as a consequence of developmental programming associated with intrauterine growth retardation.

Increased salt-sensitivity in endothelial nitric oxide synthase-knockout mice.

BACKGROUND: Although impaired nitric oxide production contributes importantly to salt-sensitivity, the role of the endothelial isoform of nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) has received little attention. In the present study we compared the effects of a high-salt diet on the blood pressure response of eNOS knockout (eNOS-/-) and control (eNOS+/+) mice. METHODS: Mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate, pulse pressure, and activity levels were recorded by telemetry in mice fed a regular-salt diet (0.7% NaCl) followed by 6 weeks on either a high-salt (8% NaCl) or regular-salt diet. RESULTS: The eNOS-/- mice exhibited a 15% increase in MAP and a 2- to 2.5-fold increase in salt-sensitivity relative to the control strain. Salt-induced increases in MAP were well sustained in eNOS-/-, whereas in eNOS+/+ the initial increase was biphasic. The effects of salt on MAP were particularly pronounced during locomotor activity, during the dark phase, and at the peak levels of MAP recorded over the course of the day. The high-salt diet also led to a transient increase in the proportion of time spent active. Levels of heart rate and pulse pressure were relatively unaffected by the high-salt diet. CONCLUSION: The eNOS-/- mice exhibit an increased blood pressure response to a high-salt diet. This finding suggests that eNOS normally provides an important contribution to the body's adaptation to a salt load and that reduced production of NO by eNOS may promote salt-sensitivity and salt-induced hypertension.

Distinct rapid and slow phases of salt-induced hypertension in Dahl salt-sensitive rats.

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that Dahl salt-sensitive (Dahl-S) rats exhibit distinct and separable phases of salt sensitivity. METHODS: Blood pressure (BP) telemetry was used to describe the detailed time course of salt-induced hypertension in Dahl-S rats and in hybrid rats derived from Dahl-S and Dahl salt-resistant strains. RESULTS: Switching to a high salt (4% NaCl) diet led to a biphasic increase in BP. Phase-1 reached a plateau in 4 days whereas phase-2 progressed slowly over the subsequent 5 weeks. In hybrid rats, phase-1 was present in each rat whereas phase-2 was absent in many individuals. A correlation of the amplitude of the first and second phases was of borderline significance in Dahl-S rats (P = 0.053, R2 = 0.44, n = 9) but was clearly significant in hybrid rats (P < 0.0001, R2 = 0.78, n = 22). Increases in BP were reversible following 1 week of high salt but progressively less so after 4 and 7 weeks. Estimation of the chronic pressure-natriuresis relationship suggests that phase-1 is attributable to a reduced slope of this relationship. In contrast, phase-2 corresponds with a further reduction in slope and a progressive and irreversible resetting of the relationship to higher BP levels. CONCLUSIONS: Two phases of salt sensitivity coexist and provide distinct contributions to salt-induced hypertension in Dahl-S rats. Our data also suggest that short-term measures of salt-sensitivity may be predictive of the effect of salt on the eventual progression of salt-induced hypertension.

Characteristics of 24 h telemetered blood pressure in eNOS-knockout and C57Bl/6J control mice.

The purpose of the present study was to characterize in detail the 24 h blood pressure (BP) phenotype of mice lacking the gene for endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS-/-) and the corresponding control strain (C57Bl/6J). Twenty-four hour BP recordings were made in conscious 12- to 16-week-old male mice 10 days following the implantation of a BP telemeter (n = 9 per group). The BP and heart rate of both strains were markedly affected by brief locomotor activity cycles, resulting in bimodal distributions of BP and heart rate within both light and dark periods. Data from active periods were associated with the higher of the two modes, whereas data from inactive periods were associated with the lower of the two modes. In eNOS-/- mice, the 24 h average BP level was significantly elevated (+15 %, 104 +/- 2 vs. 119 +/- 1 mmHg), as was its daily range (+44 %), its coefficient of variation (+26 %), dark-light difference (+48 %), and the separation of the two modes of its distribution (+41 %). Pulse pressure was also significantly greater (+23 %) in eNOS-/- mice. The 24 h heart rate level did not differ between control and eNOS-/- mice. Considerable variation was noted among previously published values of BP in eNOS-/- mice, but not in the corresponding control mice. Our results indicate that eNOS-/- mice have mild hypertension that is accompanied by more pronounced increases in BP lability and/or reactivity. Our results also demonstrate a marked effect of locomotor activity on BP in mice, which may confound short-term measurements of BP.

Calcitropic gene expression suggests a role for the intraplacental yolk sac in maternal-fetal calcium exchange.

The expression of calcitropic genes and proteins was localized within murine placenta during late gestation (the time frame of active calcium transfer) with an analysis of several gene-deletion mouse models by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP), the PTH/PTHrP receptor, calcium receptor, calbindin-D(9k), Ca(2+)-ATPase, and vitamin D receptor were all highly expressed in a localized structure of the murine placenta, the intraplacental yolk sac, compared with trophoblasts. In the PTHrP gene-deleted or Pthrp-null placenta in which placental calcium transfer is decreased, calbindin-D(9k) expression was downregulated in the intraplacental yolk sac but not in the trophoblasts. These observations indicated that the intraplacental yolk sac contains calcium transfer and calcium-sensing capability and that it is a probable route of maternal-fetal calcium exchange in the mouse.