ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the impact of renal denervation on the blood pressure, plasma renalase content and expression of renalase and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the idney of spontaneous hypertensive (SH) rats and to explore the role of renal denervation in lowering the blood pressure.@*METHODS@#SH rats were randomly assigned into a baseline group, a surgery (renal denervation) group, a sham group and a control group (n=48). WKY rats matched in age (n=12) served as a baseline control group. All rats were housed until 12 weeks old. Then, the rats in the baseline group and the WKY group were sacrificed whose blood and kidney were collected for examination. In the renal denervation group, the sham group and the control group, the blood pressure was monitored continuously. One week and 6 weeks after the renal denervation, 6 rats in each group were sacrificed whose blood and kidney were collected. ELISA was employed to measure the plasma renalase and Western blot assay done to detect the expression of TH and renalase in the kidney.@*RESULTS@#Compared with WKY rats, blood pressure significantly increased and TH protein expression markedly elevated (P0.05). No pronounced differences in the above variables were found between the sham group and the control group at any time point (P>0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#Renal denervation can lower the blood pressure, which may attribute to the suppression of sympathetic nerves, increase in plasma renalase content and renalase expression in the kidney.