KoreaMed, a service of the Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors (KAMJE), provides access to articles published in Korean medical, dental, nursing, nutrition and veterinary journals. KoreaMed records include links to full-text content in Synapse and publisher web sites.
1Department of Physiology, Chonnam National University Medical School; Hormone
Research Center, Chonnam National University, Kwangju, Korea.julee@chonnam.chonnam.ac.kr
Pathophysiological implications of the vascular nitric oxide (NO)/cGMP pathway
were investigated in various rat models of hypertension. The expression of brain
and endothelial constitutive NO synthases (bNOS, ecNOS) was determined by
Western blot analysis, and the biochemical activity of soluble and particulate
guanylate cyclases (GC) was assessed by the amount of cGMP generated in the
thoracic aortae of rats with deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt,
two-kidney, one dip (2K1C), and spontaneous hypertension (SHR). Plasma nitrite/
nitrate levels were decreased in DOCA-salt and 2K1C hypertension, and increased
in SHR. The vascular expression of bNOS as well as that of ecNOS was decreased
along with tissue nitrite/nitrate contents in DOCA-salt and 2K1C hypertension.
The expression of both bNOS and ecNOS was increased in SHR with concomitant
changes of tissue nitrite/nitrate contents. The activity of soluble GC was
decreased, and that of particulate GC was increased in DOCA-salt hypertension.
The soluble GC activity was increased, while the particulate GC activity was not
affected in 2K1C hypertension. The soluble GC activity was not significantly
changed, but the particulate GC activity was decreased in SHR. These results
indicate that the high blood pressure is associated with differentially-altered
vascular NO/cGMP pathway in different models of hypertension.