Deficiency of endogenous arginine synthesis provokes hypertension by exhausting substrate arginine for nitric oxide synthesis.

Effect of deficiency in endogenous arginine synthesis was studied in connection with NO synthesis and blood pressure. Rats with massive resection of small intestine were fed an arginine-free diet (AF rats) for 24 days. Control rats were pair-fed an isonitrogenous and isocaloric arginine-replete diet. AF rats lost weight by a mean of 28 g whereas control rats kept original weight. Urinary excretion of nitrate and cGMP was reduced in AF rats by about 40% after the feeding. Blood pressure became elevated by 20-25 mmHg in AF rats after the feeding. The concentrations of arginine in muscle and plasma of AF rats were reduced to 17 and 39%, respectively, of control rats. AF rats may be a novel animal model for the in vivo study of NO.