ABSTRACT
We examined the blood pressure changes in hypertensive and normotensive rats with Type 2 diabetes induced by neonatal streptozotocin (STZ) treatment. STZ was intraperitoneally injected at 2 days of age with the dose of 25, 50 and 75 mg/kg for male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and with 75, 100, 125 and 150 mg/kg for male normotensive Wistar Kyoto rats (WKY). Blood pressure was measured by indirect tail-cuff method until 12 weeks of age. STZ-treated SHR, of which plasma glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin increased and body weight decreased with the dose of STZ, developed and maintained hypertension, same as did the vehicle- treated control SHR. On the other hand, STZ-treated WKY which developed only mild hyperglycemia lost body weight with the dose of STZ but the blood pressures rose slightly, these changes being correlated with the glycemic levels. The explanation for these differences between SHR and WKY remained to be elucidated.