Comparison of the effects of renal denervation at early or advanced stages of hypertension on cardiac, renal, and adipose tissue pathology in Dahl salt-sensitive rats.

Renal denervation (RDN) has emerged as a novel therapy for drug-resistant hypertension. We here examined the effects of RDN at early versus advanced stages of hypertension on blood pressure and organ pathology in rats with salt-sensitive hypertension. Dahl salt-sensitive (DahlS) rats fed an 8% NaCl diet from 6 weeks of age were subjected to RDN (surgical ablation and application of 10% phenol in ethanol) or sham surgery at 7 (early stage) or 9 (advanced stage) weeks and were studied at 12 weeks.