Hypertension of Renal Origin in Rats Following Choline Deficiency*

The production of arterial hypertension by dietary deficiency alone has not previously been demonstrated. Since the report by Griffith and Wade (1939) it has been well established that choline deficiency produces severe renal lesions in young rats (Gyorgy and Goldblatt, 1940; Engel and Salmon, 1941 ; Handler, 1946; and others). A careful study of the blood pressures of rats maintained for long periods on diets low in choline has been made by Sobin and Landis (1947), who found no evidence of hypertension. The results of earlier studies by Honorato and Vadillo (1944) apparently support this same conclusion. Stimulated in part by these papers, by discussions with Professor Eugene Landis, and by the early studies of choline deficiency in our laboratories (Best and Huntsman, 1932), we decided to produce a severe renal lesion by this dietary means and then to study the blood pressures of the surviving animals maintained on full diets. Under these conditions, in our present series of observations all animals with severe residual renal damage developed hypertension. The average figure for ten animals in this group was 195 mm. Hg. This is the mean pressure recorded by arterial cannulation. The comparable figure for 36 control animals was 118 mm. Hg.