Obesity and the risk for cardiovascular disease.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of mortality in the United States. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, and smoking have all been directly related to CHD. Obesity is on the rise in the United States and has also been associated with CHD.

Increased sensitivity of the obese Zucker rat to deoxycorticosterone-salt-induced hypertension.

Objective: The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that obesity increases the sensitivity of rats to experimentally induced hypertension.

Design And Methods: To induce hypertension, unilaterally nephrectomized lean and obese Zucker rats were injected with 25 mg/kg of deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA) twice weekly for 5 weeks and given water containing 1% NaCl to drink. Unilaterally nephrectomized control rats were injected with vehicle and drank tap water.