Tacrolimus-induced hypertension and nephrotoxicity in Fawn-Hooded rats are attenuated by dual inhibition of renin-angiotensin system.

Chronic immunosuppressive therapy is often complicated by the development of both arterial hypertension and renal dysfunction. The principal aim of this study was to assess the effects of dual inhibition of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and other antihypertensive treatment on blood pressure and renal function in normotensive and hypertensive Fawn-Hooded (FH) strains during chronic calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) administration. Combinations of perindopril (5 mg kg(-1) per day) and losartan (50 mg kg(-1) per day) or amlodipine (6 mg kg(-1) per day) and metoprolol (80 mg kg(-1) per day) were administered to normotensive (FHL) and hypertensive (FHH) rats, fed with diet containing tacrolimus (Tac; 12 mg kg(-1) per day).

Pioglitazone, a PPARγ agonist, provides comparable protection to angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor ramipril against adriamycin nephropathy in rat.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) agonists have been shown to ameliorate diabetic nephropathy, but much less are known about their effects in non-diabetic nephropathies. In the present study, metabolic parameters, blood pressure, aortic endothelial function along with molecular and structural markers of glomerular and tubulointerstitial renal damage, were studied in a rat model of normotensive nephropathy induced by adriamycin and treated with PPARγ agonist pioglitazone (12mg/kg, po), angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor ramipril (1mg/kg, po) or their combination. Pioglitazone had no effect on systolic blood pressure, marginally reduced glycemia and improved aortic endothelium-dependent relaxation.

Vildagliptin restores renal myogenic function and attenuates renal sclerosis independently of effects on blood glucose or proteinuria in zucker diabetic fatty rat.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with risk for chronic kidney disease (CKD), which is associated with a decrease in renal myogenic tone - part of renal autoregulatory mechanisms. Novel class of drugs used for the treatment of T2DM, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors, have protective effects on the cardiovascular system. A Zucker Diabetic Fatty (ZDF) rat is an animal model of T2DM that displays progressive nephropathy in which inflammation leads to initiation of renal fibrosis and CKD.

Commentary on the special issue on the impact of myogenic tone in health and disease.

Autoregulation is a vital homeostatic mechanism that helps maintain constant delivery of oxygen to organs despite fluctuations in arteriolar pressure. Autoregulation of blood flow to elevations in pressure is largely mediated by the myogenic response of small arteries and arterioles which constrict in response to elevations in distending pressure. There is now general agreement that the myogenic response is an intrinsic property of vascular smooth muscle cells in the vessel wall that involves depolarization and calcium influx through L-type voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCC), calcium/ calmodulin-dependent phosphorylation of myosin light chain kinase and actin myosin-based contraction.

Renal myogenic constriction protects the kidney from age-related hypertensive renal damage in the Fawn-Hooded rat.

Introduction: Intact myogenic constriction plays a role in renal blood flow autoregulation and protection against pressure-related (renal) injury. However, to what extent alterations in renal artery myogenic constriction are involved in development of renal damage during aging is unknown. Therefore, we studied two strains of fawn-hooded rats, which differ in expression of hypertension and chronic renal failure.