Systemic leukotriene B4 receptor antagonism lowers arterial blood pressure and improves autonomic function in the spontaneously hypertensive rat.

KEY POINTS: Evidence indicates an association between hypertension and chronic systemic inflammation in both human hypertension and experimental animal models. Previous studies in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) support a role for leukotriene B4 (LTB4 ), a potent chemoattractant involved in the inflammatory response, but its mode of action is poorly understood. In the SHR, we observed an increase in T cells and macrophages in the brainstem; in addition, gene expression profiling data showed that LTB4 production, degradation and downstream signalling in the brainstem of the SHR are dynamically regulated during hypertension. When LTB4 receptor 1 (BLT1) receptors were blocked with CP-105,696, arterial pressure was reduced in the SHR compared to the normotensive control and this reduction was associated with a significant decrease in systolic blood pressure (BP) indicators. These data provide new evidence for the role of LTB4 as an important neuro-immune pathway in the development of hypertension and therefore may serve as a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of neurogenic hypertension. ABSTRACT: Accumulating evidence indicates an association between hypertension and chronic systemic inflammation in both human hypertension and experimental animal models. Previous studies in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) support a role for leukotriene B4 (LTB4 ), a potent chemoattractant involved in the inflammatory response. However, the mechanism for LTB4 -mediated inflammation in hypertension is poorly understood. Here we report in the SHR, increased brainstem infiltration of T cells and macrophages plus gene expression profiling data showing that LTB4 production, degradation and downstream signalling in the brainstem of the SHR are dynamically regulated during hypertension. Chronic blockade of the LTB4 receptor 1 (BLT1) receptor with CP-105,696, reduced arterial pressure in the SHR compared to the normotensive control and this reduction was associated with a significant decrease in low and high frequency spectra of systolic blood pressure, and an increase in spontaneous baroreceptor reflex gain (sBRG). These data provide new evidence for the role of LTB4 as an important neuro-immune pathway in the development of hypertension and therefore may serve as a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of neurogenic hypertension.

A method for the automated processing and analysis of images of ULVWF-platelet strings.

We present a method for identifying and analysing unusually large von Willebrand factor (ULVWF)-platelet strings in noisy low-quality images. The method requires relatively inexpensive, non-specialist equipment and allows multiple users to be employed in the capture of images. Images are subsequently enhanced and analysed, using custom-written software to perform the processing tasks. The formation and properties of ULVWF-platelet strings released in in vitro flow-based assays have recently become a popular research area. Endothelial cells are incorporated into a flow chamber, chemically stimulated to induce ULVWF release and perfused with isolated platelets which are able to bind to the ULVWF to form strings. The numbers and lengths of the strings released are related to characteristics of the flow. ULVWF-platelet strings are routinely identified by eye from video recordings captured during experiments and analysed manually using basic NIH image software to determine the number of strings and their lengths. This is a laborious, time-consuming task and a single experiment, often consisting of data from four to six dishes of endothelial cells, can take 2 or more days to analyse. The method described here allows analysis of the strings to provide data such as the number and length of strings, number of platelets per string and the distance between each platelet to be found. The software reduces analysis time, and more importantly removes user subjectivity, producing highly reproducible results with an error of less than 2% when compared with detailed manual analysis.