Increased plasma volume in hypertensive rats with polyarteritis.

Plasma volume was measured and the severity of gross polyarteritis in the mesenteric vasculature assessed in groups of normotensive and hypertensive rats. Three groups of hypertensive rats were investigated: genetically hypertensive rats of the New Zealand strain, and renal hypertensive rats with one renal artery “clipped” and the opposite kidney either left intact or excised. Polyarteritis of varying severity developed in the mesenteric vasculature in many hypertensive rats, particularly the older ones. No vascular lesions visible to the naked eye were found in the normotensive rats. In rats with moderate to severe polyarteritis plasma volume was increased. Gross dilatation, both generalized and aneurysmal, of the mesenteric arterial tree in affected animals was demonstrated by means of silicone rubber casts. Presumably this and the secondary vascularization of the thickened wall of affected vessels cause an expansion of the intravascular space in rats with polyarteritis and this is a probable factor in the increased plasma volume found in these rats.