Effects of potassium supplementation and depletion in the development of salt-sensitive hypertension in male and female rats

The inverse effects that dietary sodium and potassium have on blood pressure have been known for some time. High sodium consumption is detrimental, while potassium supplementation is known to be beneficial, and the ratio of sodium/potassium consumption is also very important to consider when determining how these electrolytes affect salt-induced hypertension; however, the mechanisms behind the beneficial effects of potassium are still not yet entirely established. Inwardly rectifying potassium (Kir) channels have been shown to play a major role in potassium transport and homeostasis in the kidney and might contribute to these effects. Here we aimed to examine how different variations in the sodium/potassium ratio affect the development of salt-sensitive hypertension and how channels and transporters in the kidney are altered to accommodate these changes. We hypothesize that these diets will affect the development of salt-sensitive hypertension, and that Kir channels will play a major role in the renal adaptations to varying intakes of potassium Both male and female animals were used for the study. At 8 weeks of age animals were implanted with a telemeter to measure chronic blood pressure. After a few days of recovery animals were switched to one of three high salt (HS, 4% NaCl) diets, potassium deficient (DK), normal potassium (NK, 0.36% K+), and high potassium (HK, 1.41% K+). After 5 weeks on the diets, animals were anesthetized with isoflurane and kidneys were collected. Kidney cortex from one kidney was snap-frozen and used for transcriptomic analysis for animals of both sexes and for each diet.