Y-chromosome transfer induces changes in blood pressure and blood lipids in SHR

• Published in: Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. 1979) Vol. 37; no. 4; pp. 1147 - 1152
• Main Authors: KREN, Vladimir, NIANNING QI, VAN ZUTPHEN, Bert F. M, LAU, Yun-Fai Chris, PRAVENEC, Michal, LEZIN, Elizabeth St, KRENOVA, Drahomira, ZIDEK, Vaclav, SLADKA, Milada, JACHYMOVA, Marie, MIKOVA, Blanka, HORKY, Karel, BONNE, Anita, VAN LITH, Hein A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia, PA Lippincott 01-04-2001; Hagerstown, MD American Heart Association, Inc
• Subjects: Animals; Arterial hypertension. Arterial hypotension; Biological and medical sciences; Blood and lymphatic vessels; Blood Glucose - metabolism; Blood Pressure - physiology; Body Weight; Cardiology. Vascular system; Cardiovascular Diseases - etiology; Cholesterol, HDL - blood; Diet; Experimental diseases; Fructose - administration & dosage; Genotype; Hypertension - blood; Hypertension - genetics; Hypertension - physiopathology; Insulin - blood; Lipids - blood; Medical sciences; Rats; Rats, Inbred BN; Rats, Inbred SHR; Rats, Inbred WKY; Risk Factors; Triglycerides - blood; Y Chromosome; Hypertension; Rat; Rodentia; Cardiovascular disease; Y-Chromosome; Hereditary; Genetic determinism; Genetic transfer; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Animal; Arterial pressure; Locus
• ISSN: 0194-911X; 1524-4563
• DOI: 10.1161/01.hyp.37.4.1147

Previous studies with chromosome-Y consomic strains of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto rats suggest that a quantitative trait locus for blood pressure regulation exists on chromosome Y. To test this hypothesis in the SHR-Brown Norway (BN) model and to study the effects of chromosome Y on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, we produced a new consomic strain of SHR carrying the Y chromosome transferred from the BN rat. We found that replacing the SHR Y chromosome with the BN Y chromosome resulted in significant decreases in systolic and diastolic blood pressures in the SHR.BN-Y consomic strain (P<0.05). To elicit possible dietary-induced variation in lipid and glucose metabolism between the SHR progenitor and chromosome-Y consomic strains, we fed rats a high-fructose diet for 15 days in addition to the normal diet. On the high-fructose diet, the SHR.BN-Y consomic rats exhibited significantly increased levels of serum triglycerides and decreased levels of serum HDL cholesterol versus the SHR progenitor rats. Glucose tolerance and insulin/glucose ratios, however, were similar in both strains on both normal and high-fructose diets. These findings provide direct evidence that a gene or genes on chromosome Y contribute to the pathogenesis of spontaneous hypertension in the SHR-BN model. These results also indicate that transfer of the Y chromosome from the BN rat onto the SHR background exacerbates dietary-induced dyslipidemia in SHR. Thus, genetic variation in genes on the Y chromosome may contribute to variation in blood pressure and lipid levels and may influence the risk for cardiovascular disease.