Development of two-kidney Goldblatt hypertension in rats under dietary sodium restriction.

In Sprague-Dawley rats with unilateral renal artery stenosis and an intact contralateral kidney, administration of a low-sodium diet did not prevent the development of hypertension. Despite an elevated blood pressure, hyponatremia, marked activation of the renin-angiotensin system, and increased hematocrit values, only 10% of the rats showed lesions of malignant hypertension. Systolic blood pressures of one- and two-kidney sham-operated rats fed a low-sodium diet were significantly higher than that of normotensive controls fed a normal diet. Uninephrectomy did not reduce plasma renin activity. The low-sodium diet increased plasma renin activity to about the same level in one- and two-kidney normotensive rats. However, the increase in plasma renin activity elicited by dietary sodium restriction was markedly less in one-kidney Goldblatt hypertension. Systolic blood pressure reached similar levels in one- and two-kidney Goldblatt hypertensive rats fed a low-sodium diet. These data indicate that a decrease in sodium intake does not prevent the development of two-kidney Goldblatt hypertension.