Different antihypertensive and metabolic responses to rostafuroxin in undernourished and normonourished male rats: Outcomes on bodily Na(+) handling

Hypertension is a pandemic nowadays. We aimed to investigate whether chronic undernutrition modifies the response to the antihypertensive drug rostafuroxin in juvenile hypertensive rats. Chronic undernutrition was induced in male rats using a multideficient diet known as the Regional Basic Diet (RBD), mimicking alimentary habits in impoverished regions worldwide. Animals were given RBD—or a control/CTRL normal diet for rodents—from weaning to 90 days, and rostafuroxin (1 mg/kg body mass) was orally administered from day 60 onwards. For the last 2 days, the rats were hosted in metabolic cages to measure food/energy, water, Na(+) ingestion, and urinary volume. Rostafuroxin increased food/energy/Na(+) intake in CTRL and RBD rats but had opposite effects on Na(+) balance (intake minus urinary excretion). The drug normalized the decreased plasma Na(+) concentration in RBD rats, increased urinary volume in RBD but not in CTRL, and decreased and increased urinary Na(+) concentration in the RBD and CTRL groups, respectively. Rostafuroxin decreased the ouabain‐sensitive (Na(+)+K(+))ATPase and increased the ouabain‐resistant Na(+)‐ATPase from proximal tubule cells in both groups and normalized the systolic blood pressure in RBD without effect in CTRL rats. We conclude that chronic undernutrition modifies the response of blood pressure and metabolic responses to rostafuroxin.