The role of chloride on deoxycorticosterone acetate-salt hypertension.

Selective sodium loading attenuated the development of hypertension in the deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA) treated rat. The DOCA treated rat fed a diet equimolar in sodium to a 7% sodium chloride diet and in chloride to a standard diet, differed in various parameters from the DOCA treated rat fed a 7% sodium chloride diet: it had higher sodium concentration in both erythrocytes and muscles, a higher erythrocyte ouabain sensitive 22Na efflux rate constant (Kos), and a lower norepinephrine turnover rate in the heart and the spleen. These results suggest that the suppressed sympathetic nervous system activity and the activated cell membrane sodium pump contribute in part to the mechanism for the suppression of the development of hypertension in the DOCA-selective sodium loaded rat.