Primary hypertension in a colony of dogs.

Abstract

SUMMARY A 5-year-old female Siberian husky that was diagnosed as an essential hypertensive was bred several times over a 5-year period, producing a colony of 39 offspring. Thirty of the 39 animals were subjected to biweekly systemic arterial blood pressure determinations with femoral arterial puncture and were placed into two hypertensive and two normotensive groups based on mean blood pressure: Group 1 (mean blood pressure, 128 ± 12 mm Hg), Group 2 (mean blood pressure, 121 ± 3 mm Hg), Group 3 (mean blood pressure, 114 ± 8 mm Hg), and Group 4 (mean blood pressure, 101 ± 9 mm Hg). Groups 1,2, and 3 had mean blood pressures significantly higher than that of Group 4 (p<0.05). Ten dogs (representatives from Groups 1, 2, and 3) were subjected to more detailed clinical testing including angiography, echocardiography, ophthalmic examination, plasma catecholamine and renin activity measurements, plasma lead and cadmium determinations, cerebrosplnal fluid examination, renal profile, and serum chemistry and hematological analysis. Five unrelated normotensive Siberian huskies were compared with colony dogs by using echocardiography. Groups 1 and 2 showed a clear but statistically insignificant upward trend in left ventricular wall thickness indexed against body weights when compared with that in Group 3 and in the unrelated five normal Siberian dogs. Thus, the only specific difference from group to group in the colony at the termination of this study was the difference in mean blood pressure. Based on these data, it is possible and likely that aging will reveal changes secondary to chronic primary hypertension. The pathogenesis of this hereditary disorder remains unknown. (Hypertension 9: 49-58, 1987) KEY WORDS * genetic hypertension • essential hypertension • blood pressure colony * catecholamine • renin • dogs B Y the 1900s, two forms of arterial hypertension had been defined: secondary hypertension, which was associated with a detectable organic lesion, and essential, idiopathic, or primary hypertension, which was not associated with an underlying pathological basis.1 Recently, hypertension has been investigated on a worldwide basis and is believed to affect 15 to 20% of all adults.2 Hypertension afflicts an estimated 65 million Americans, while 25 million have borderline hypertension. The annual cost of medical bills, lost wages, and lost productivity to the nation is in excess of 20 billion dollars.In dogs, little information exists about naturally occurring hypertension, probably because it is difficult to get accurate measurements of blood pressure in the

A Clinical Evaluation of Blood Pressure through Non-Invasive Measurement Using the Oscillometric Procedure in Conscious Dogs.

“…Renal disease is the most frequent cause of hypertension [8,9,18]. On the contrary, essential hypertension is said to be extremely rare although there have only been a few studies on canine hypertension [3,11,20]. Further, there are also reports that indicate an interaction between renal disease and hypertension in dogs [1,4,17].…”

ACVIM consensus statement: Guidelines for the identification, evaluation, and management of systemic hypertension in dogs and cats

“…The term “primary” or “essential” hypertension often is used in people to describe persistent pathological hypertension in the absence of any identifiable underlying cause and represents a complex multifactorial disorder involving genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Essential hypertension has been reported in dogs . Because subclinical kidney disease is present frequently in people and animals with hypertension, a valid diagnosis of primary or essential hypertension can be difficult to establish.…”

Comparison of the role of the renin-angiotensin aldosterone system in the genesis of hypertension between two groups of nonhunting dogs and hunting dogs

“…Few cases of primary hypertension have been reported (11). The major source of information is from studies using the dog as an experimental model (11).…”