gms | German Medical Science

28. Wissenschaftlicher Kongress der Deutschen Hochdruckliga

24. bis 27.11.2004, Hannover

Transfer of the WKY-ACE locus into a congenic SHRSP strain confirms a strong determination of plasma ACE activity that is independent from hypertension

Die Plasma ACE Aktivität wird genetisch determiniert und ist unabhängig von der Hypertonie

Meeting Abstract (Hypertonie 2004)

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  • C. Bernardy - Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Berlin, D)
  • A. Schulz - Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Berlin, D)
  • R. Kreutz - Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Berlin, D)

Hypertonie 2004. 28. Wissenschaftlicher Kongress der Deutschen Hochdruckliga. Hannover, 24.-27.11.2004. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2005. Doc04hochP23

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hoch2004/04hoch023.shtml

Published: August 10, 2005

© 2005 Bernardy et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

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Objectives: Plasma angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) levels show a genetically determined interstrain variability between the stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHRSP) and the normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rat. Thus, plasma ACE levels are twofold higher in WKY compared to SHRSP, while F1-animals derived from both strains show intermediate levels indicating a co-dominant genetic effect. Therefore, the difference between the WKY and SHRSP ACE-alleles mirror the insertion/deletion polymorphism of ACE in humans. We tested the effect of the WKY ACE-allele on blood pressure (BP) regulation in the SHRSP strain.

Methods: We established a congenic strain SHRSP-ACE/WKY for chromosome 10 carrying the ACE locus of the WKY rat on the background of SHRSP. Male rats of each strain were studied at the age of sixteen weeks. BP was measured over a period of 14 days by radiotelemetry (n=6 each). Plasma ACE levels were studied by enzymatic activity measurements (n=12 each).

Results: Total genome scan analysis confirmed the purity of the congenic strain outside the ACE-locus. Plasma ACE activity in WKY (223.53 +/-46.01 U/l) and congenic SHRSP-ACE/WKY animals (198.60 +/- 63.56 U/l) were similar and significantly elevated compared to SHRSP (89.75 +/-20.1, p<0.01). Despite the twofold elevated ACE levels systolic BP showed no significant difference in SHRSP-ACE/WKY (234 +/- 16 mmHg) compared to SHRSP (235 +/- 7 mmHg) and thus a similar elevation compared to WKY (124 +/- 6 mmHg) (p<0.0001).

Conclusion: Our data confirm a strong genetic determination of plasma ACE levels, which are not modulated by BP and do not affect the severe hypertension in SHRSP.