Renovascular hypertension

Renovascular hypertension was induced in rats as previously described. Briefly, male Wistar rats weighting between 180 and 200 g (35 days old) were anaesthetised with tribromoethanol (250 mg/kg, i.p.) and after a midline laparotomy, a silver clip with an internal diameter of 0.2 mm was placed around the left renal artery. Normotensive two kidney (2K) rats were submitted to laparotomy only. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was measured before and after 6 weeks of midline laparotomy in non anaesthetized animals by pletysmography (tail-cuff) and rats were considered to be hypertensive when SBP was higher than 160 mmHg. At 6 weeks after surgery, rats were killed and the thoracic aortas were isolated.¹⁶ A total of 26 2K rats and 28 2K-1C rats were used in the present study. All protocols were approved by the Ethical Animal Committee of the Campus of Ribeirão Preto - University of São Paulo (#09.1.1007.53.0).