Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol 13, Issue 6 578-583, Copyright © 1994 by American College of Nutrition

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Early lead challenge and subsequent hypertension in Sprague-Dawley rats

H. G. Preuss, G. Jiang, J. W. Jones, P. O. Macarthy, P. M. Andrews and J. A. Gondal
Department of Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC.

OBJECTIVE: The consequences of chronic, low grade lead (Pb) burden from earlier exposure on development of hypertension (HT) and cardiovascular disease is, at best, controversial, even though many epidemiological studies suggest the possibility. Accordingly, we examined ability of a short-term Pb challenge to cause later developing HT in rats. METHODS: We gave 12 newly weaned Sprague-Dawley rats (SD) a 1% Pb acetate solution to drink for 6 weeks, while 12 control rats drank water. The rats were further subdivided into groups consuming high and low amounts of sugar. All rats were followed for 4 months after cessation of the Pb challenge. RESULTS: Early Pb challenge caused no significant changes in body weight (BW) from controls; however, systolic blood pressures (SBP) of rats initially receiving Pb continued to rise significantly above their respective dietary controls for months after cessation of challenge. While a high sugar diet alone was associated with elevated SBP, high sugar consumers also challenged with Pb had the highest SBP. Protein excretion did not increase, suggesting, along with other evidence, a lack of significant renal damage. CONCLUSIONS: Previous exposure to Pb can cause subsequent chronic elevations in SBP.

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