Enhancement of somatotrophic hormone-induced hypertensive cardiovascular disease by stress

¹ Carter Physiology Laboratory, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas

Rats sensitized to hormone action by unilateral nephrectomy and augmented NaCl intake were treated for 32 days with a highly purified growth hormone preparation; a second group was subjected to stress, induced by periodic electrical shocks; a third group received both stress and hormone treatment, and a fourth group served as untreated controls. Stress alone caused slight hypertension in a few animals, late in treatment, unaccompanied by either cardiac hypertrophy or vascular lesions. Growth hormone caused hypertension in many of the treated animals and a few of them exhibited nephrosclerosis. Hormone and stress together caused a higher incidence and greater severity of hypertension and more marked and widespread nephrosclerosis than did hormone alone, and in addition cardiac damage was superimposed.