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Biomedical subjects

G Vezzoli

Publications and source records attributed to G Vezzoli.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Pathogenetic mechanisms in essential hypertension. Analogies between a rat model and the human disease.

Essential hypertension is a genetic disease. Its phenotypic expression depends on the interaction between genetic and environmental factors. In prehypertensive rats of the Milan hypertensive strain (MHS) a genetically inherited increase of tubular reabsorption was found, which causes the increase of blood pressure. Studies of ion transport systems in these rats have shown that the Na-K cotransport activity is increased both in erythrocytes and in tubular cells of MHS rats compared with their normotensive controls (MNS) and that this alteration is genetically linked to the transmission of high blood pressure levels. Also, in young human normotensives prone to develop essential hypertension there is an abnormal pattern of renal function which could be in agreement with a primitive increase in tubular reabsorption. Studies of erythrocyte ion transport systems in these subjects suggest that at least in a subgroup of humans predisposed to develop essential hypertension a pathogenetic mechanism similar to the one proposed for the MHS rat can be at work.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Abnormal red-cell calcium pump in patients with idiopathic hypercalciuria.

Idiopathic hypercalciuria is a common disorder whose inheritance suggests an enzyme abnormality in calcium transport. We measured calcium-magnesium-ATPase activity in erythrocytes from 38 patients (mean age [+/- SEM], 40 +/- 2.1 years) with idiopathic hypercalciuria (24-hour urinary calcium excretion greater than or equal to 0.1 mmol per kilogram of body weight) and a history of multiple calcium oxalate kidney stones. As compared with 41 healthy controls, the patients with hypercalciuria had increased erythrocyte-membrane calcium-magnesium-ATPase activity (64.2 +/- 2.19 vs. 51.6 +/- 1.91 nmol of ATP split per milligram per minute; P less than 0.01) and increased sodium-potassium pump activity (6866 +/- 233 vs. 6096 +/- 228 mumol of sodium per liter of red cells per hour; P less than 0.05). No significant difference between the two groups was found in erythrocyte sodium-potassium cotransport, sodium-lithium countertransport, or potassium content. In 66 patients with kidney stones (38 with hypercalciuria and 28 with normal calcium excretion), 24-hour urinary calcium excretion correlated with calcium-magnesium-ATPase activity (r = 0.46, P less than 0.001). Erythrocyte calcium-magnesium-ATPase activity remained unchanged in eight subjects studied after four months on a low-calcium diet. A study of 30 healthy families found significant correlations between mean values in parents and those in offspring for calcium-magnesium-ATPase (r = 0.68, P less than 0.001) and urinary calcium excretion (r = 0.45, P less than 0.02), with no significant correlations between parents with respect to these measures (r = 0.27 and r = 0.08, respectively). We conclude that abnormalities in erythrocyte calcium-magnesium-ATPase activity may represent an inherited defect in calcium transport related to the cause of idiopathic hypercalciuria.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Renal abnormalities at the prehypertensive stage of essential hypertension.

An approach to evaluating the genetic components of essential hypertension using an animal model, the Milan hypertensive strain (MHS) of rats, and studies in human families with positive and negative histories for high blood pressure are described and discussed. Differences at renal and cellular levels between MHS and its normotensive control strain, MNS, show many similarities to those between offspring from hyper- and normotensive families in humans. These include, with respect to the former group of each species, lower erythrocyte volume and Na content, higher Na-K cotransport across red blood cell (RBC) membranes higher Na excretion after load, and greater pressor effect in transplanted kidneys. A novel protein found in rat RBC cytoskeleton appears to have a function in Na-K cotransport and it may, eventually, be possible to demonstrate in man.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Role of cellular sodium and calcium metabolism in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension.

The differences observed among rat strains in both basal [Na+]i and the several cation transport systems seem to be due to the different genetic background as clearly shown in F2 populations or after bone marrow transplantation in MHS. The same may be true for humans. In spite of all the caution taken in interpreting the data, because of the great possibility of methodological errors, it is likely that the differences observed in many laboratories are due to uneven genetic or ethnic composition of the samples studied, as shown by Dagher and Canessa. One intriguing observation is that most reports of "low Na-K cotransport" values in hypertensive patients are from Mediterranean countries (Italy, France, and Spain), whereas most reports of "high," or "not low Na-K cotransport," or very high values of countertransport came from populations originating from North Europe (Denmark, USA, South African whites). We are not aware of any study on erythrocyte Na-K cotransport performed in Great Britain (the greatest source of American immigrants). Indeed the difference in cotransport values between North and South European hypertensives might be due to different environmental factors, but if this is so, the difference does not depend on the salt consumption or plasma lipids that are similar in our high and low Na-K cotransport hypertensives (Cusi D et al, submitted). The picture seems relatively less confusing for calcium. The most consistent alterations in different models of hypertension is a decreased Ca-pump in SHR, MHS, and DOCA rats, reduced calcium binding in SHR and MHS, and reduced microsomal ATP dependent calcium uptake in SHR and DOCA rats. [Ca++]i, which is increased in established hypertension in man and rats, is normal in young prehypertensive rats and humans, and returns to normal values after pharmacological treatment of hypertension. This pattern of changes suggests that genetic control of these transport systems is weaker, and probably much influenced by different environmental conditions. However, because of the pivotal role of calcium in vascular smooth muscle cell concentration, its intracellular increase may be the common pathway of the different forms of hypertension. What remains unclear is the relation, if any, between calcium and sodium. Blaustein tried to find a link between them, but his hypotheses have yet to be confirmed.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Renal mechanisms and calcium in the pathogenesis of a type of genetic hypertension.

Results concerning kidney and red blood cell (RBC) function of Milan hypertensive rats (MHS), and of their age- and body weight-matched normotensive controls (MNS), are summarized. Our data suggest a biochemical and physiological link between RBC abnormalities and the renal mechanisms causing hypertension in MHS, and therefore the possibility of using the former as a tool for studying the genetic biochemical mechanisms of hypertension. In particular, the following results are discussed: a positive correlation between blood pressure and RBC Na+-K+ cotransport found in the F2 generation, obtained by crossing F1 (MHS X MNS) hybrids; bone marrow transplantation from MHS and MNS into F1 hybrids, causing a parallel change in recipient RBC characteristics; and similarities between erythrocytes and renal tubular cells in Na+ content, cell volume, and Na+ transport. Ca2+ ATPase or Ca2+ pump at Vmax are lower in MHS renal tubular cells and MHS erythrocytes than in MNS cells. Moreover, isolated kidneys of MHS and MNS, perfused in vitro with media at different Ca2+ concentrations, showed that the function of MNS kidney remained stable over a range of Ca2+ from 0.75 to 1.25 mM, while the function of MS kidney deteriorated at a Ca2+ concentration of 1.25 mM.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

High plasma ionized calcium with normal PTH and total calcium levels in normal-function kidney transplant recipients.

Hypercalcemia is a postrenal transplant complication. We found a high frequency of elevated plasma ionized calcium values (65.8%) in 41 normal-function renal graft recipients. In 8 patients increased free calcium was associated with high PTH levels, whereas in 19 PTH was not increased but free calcium was high. In the other 14 patients both free calcium and PTH were in the normal range. The mean transplant duration was different in the three groups: shorter in high PTH patients, longer in normal free calcium patients, intermediate in normal PTH and high free calcium patients. Our findings confirm that a condition of hyperparathyroidism persists in the first post-transplant period, and suggest that this complication evolves towards normalization of the blood chemistry values, passing through a condition of inappropriate PTH secretion with elevated plasma free calcium which in this period is the only marker of parathyroid hyperfunction.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Cell membrane abnormalities and genetic hypertension.

Evidence indicates that an alteration in kidney function has a causal role in the pathogenesis of hypertension in the Milan hypertensive strain (MHS) rat. At the prehypertensive stage, these animals have increased glomerular filtration rate and 24-hour urinary output, whereas plasma renin activity and urinary kallikrein are lower. After transplantation, the MHS kidney increases the blood pressure of a normotensive recipient. Micropuncture experiments, where single nephron filtration rate, tubuloglomerular feedback, proximal tubular reabsorption, micro-pressures in tubuli, and interstitium and interstitial oncotic pressure were measured, suggest that the intrinsic ability of MHS proximal tubular epithelium to reabsorb solute and water is greater in prehypertensive MHS rats than in Milan normotensive strain (MNS) rats. Also rheogenic Na transport across the brush-border vesicles isolated from proximal tubular cells is faster. When erythrocytes and proximal tubular cells of MHS rats are compared to those of MNS rats, the former have smaller volume and Na content, whereas the Na transport is faster and the Ca ATPase at Vmax is lower. This indicates that the genetic cellular abnormality responsible for the renal functional abnormality and hypertension is also present in erythrocytes. Moreover, MHS erythrocyte abnormalities are genetically determined within the stem cells and are genetically associated with hypertension. Because a correlation was also found in human hypertension between erythrocyte Na transport abnormality and renal function, it is proposed that the erythrocyte may be used for studying the genetic molecular mechanisms of hypertension.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Calcium ATPase in erythrocytes of spontaneously hypertensive rats of the Milan strain.

Calcium (Ca)-dependent ATPase activity was determined in erythrocyte membrane ghosts from normal and spontaneously hypertensive rats of the Milan strain in order to detect changes in enzyme activity which had previously been shown in the spontaneously hypertensive rat strain. Activity was similar in control and hypertensive rats in the absence of calmodulin. In contrast, activity in the presence of saturating amounts of calmodulin was significantly lower in the hypertensive rats. At the Vmax (free Ca2+ concentration 10 mumol/l) the decrease was about 30% (70.1 +/- 8.94 versus 49.1 +/- 4.75 nmol of ATP split/mg of ghost proteins per min; P less than 0.05). The affinity of the ATP-dependent Ca2+ pump for Ca2+ (Km about 1 mumol/l) was not altered in the hypertensive rats. It is possible that deficient Ca ATPase activity sustains an increase of intracellular free Ca in cells of hypertensive rats concomitant with the intracellular sodium (Na) decrease typical of this strain.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Genetic hypertension and the kidney.

The relationship between the kidney and genetic hypertension has been assessed in light of the changes seen in some kidney and cell functions during the phases preceding and accompanying the development of "genetic" types of hypertension in rats and humans. Comparison of the kidney function of normotensive subjects likely to develop hypertension with that of matched controls resistant to hypertension showed, in the former, a higher glomerular filtration rate (GFR), greater tubular reabsorption, larger 24-h urinary output, larger fraction of cardiac output to the kidney, and lower plasma renin activity. After the transplantation of a kidney from a subject in the hypertension-prone group, recipients had higher blood pressure and required more antihypertensive therapy than recipients of kidneys from the hypertension-resistant group. In humans this finding is not as clear as in rats. During the development of hypertension most of these differences in kidney function in the two groups of subjects tend to disappear. The changes in cell function, measured particularly in rats, were consistent with the organ function changes. Cell volume and sodium content were lower, while the transport rate across the cell membrane was faster in proximal tubular cells of rats with genetic hypertension than in the appropriate controls. This is in keeping with the concept of a primary increase in proximal tubular reabsorption leading, on the one hand, to an increase in GFR and renal blood flow and a decrease in renin and, on the other, to an increase in blood pressure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Sodium balance and peripheral resistance in arterial hypertension.

In this brief review, some aspects of the relation between sodium balance and peripheral resistance in four types of arterial hypertension are discussed. Renal hypertension, hypertension caused by reduced kidney mass and sodium load, mineralocorticoid hypertension, and spontaneous or "genetic" hypertension in rats are considered. In all these forms of hypertension, the increase in peripheral resistance is preceded by changes in body sodium and fluids. However, the precise role of these changes in the development of the subsequent rise of peripheral resistance is not yet clear. Changes in ion transport across the cell membranes have been demonstrated even before the development of hypertension, especially the forms caused by mineralocorticoids or genetic factors. Even though we do not know the underlying mechanisms, it is very likely that these cell-membrane changes are involved in the rise of peripheral resistance and blood pressure.

Animals↗