Genotype-Related Effect of Crowding Stress on Blood Pressure and Vascular Function in Young Female Rats

Table 1

Basic biometric and cardiovascular parameters and plasma corticosterone levels of young female Wistar-Kyoto (WKY), borderline hypertensive (BHR), and spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats exposed to crowding.

	WKY		BHR		SHR
	Control	Stress	Control	Stress	Control	Stress
BW basal (g)	107±4	105±5	87±3	96±3	78±2^x	79±3^x+
BW final (g)	158±4	154±4	159±3	146±4^∗	121±4^x+	112±3^x+
BW gain (g)	51±3	49±4	73±3^x	50±2^∗	43±2^+	33±2^∗x+
Final HR (bpm)	422±16	418±11	440±25	463±14	497±17^x	506±31^x
LVM/BW (mg/g)	1.93±0.07	2.08±0.10	1.93±0.06	2.12±0.07	2.51±0.07^x+	2.52±0.07^x+
AG/BW (mg/g)	0.24±0.01	0.25±0.01	0.28±0.01^x	0.28±0.01^x	0.29±0.01^x	0.29±0.01^x
^1pCort (ng/mL)	68±25	76±22	58±17	393±331^x∗	243±47^x+	287±136^x

Values represent mean ± SEM (except for pCort) of 8–14 rats. BW: body weight; HR: heart rate; LVM/BW: left ventricular mass-to-body weight ratio; AG/BW: adrenal gland-to-body weight ratio; pCort: plasma corticosterone; ^x𝑃<0.05 versus WKY respective group (control/stress); ⁺𝑃<0.05 versus BHR respective group (control/stress); ^∗𝑃<0.05 versus control group of the same genotype. ¹Because of the inherent non-normality of pCort, these data were analyzed using a generalized linear model (Gamma distribution, logarithmic link function) and they are presented as mean ± 95% confidence interval.