The role of chloride in the sympathetic nervous system in DOCA-salt hypertension.

Elevation in blood pressure in the deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-treated rat with a high-sodium, normal-chloride diet was less than that in the DOCA-salt rat not on such a diet. Compared with the DOCA-salt rat, there were greater sodium concentration in the carcass, and less norepinephrine turnover rates in the heart and the spleen than in the DOCA treated rat given a high sodium normal chloride diet. Extracellular fluid volumes were similar. These results suggest that not only water and sodium retention by sodium loading but also that activation in sympathetic nervous system by the combined effect of chloride and sodium are responsible for the development of DOCA-salt hypertension.