Genetically mediated resistance to naturally occurring aortic sclerosis in spontaneously hypertensive as against Sprague-Dawley and Wistar-Kyoto breeder rats.

Male and female, normotensive, Sprague-Dawley (S-D), Wistar-Kyoto (WKy), and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were bred repeatedly until the females had given birth to and nursed 6 litters of pups. At the close of the 2nd, 4th and 6th breeding, breeder males and females, along with celibate males and females of equal age, were killed. S-D and WKy breeder rats manifested progressively increasing adiposity and high blood pressure with each successive breeding; breeder SHR showed mild exacerbation of their pre-existing high blood pressure. Adrenocortical hyperplasia and thymus-gland involution suggested increasing pituitary-adrenal activity in breeder rats. Circulating aldosterone levels decreased with repeated breeding in parallel with increased deoxycorticosterone and corticosterone secretion. The repeatedly bred normotensive rats manifested worsening aortic sclerosis as against little or no aortic sclerosis in the repeatedly bred SHR. Breeder SHR developed fibrinohyalin intimal lesions limited exclusively to the arterioles of the testis and ovary. Virgin rats did not develop any vascular disease. It is suggested that a diverse spectrum of adrenal steroids in breeder HSR combined with genetic direction control the morphogenesis of arterial disease in breeder SHR.