Some enzyme characteristics of spontaneously hypertensive rats myocardium.

In order to ascertain the pathogenesis of myocardial cell vulnerability in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), several enzyme activities were examined by using subcellular fractions of myocardium and compared to those in Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). In the normotensive WKY heart, both 5'-nucleotidase and Na+/K(+)-ATPase, which are plasma membrane associated enzymes, increased with age. But in the SHR heart, both enzymes were lower at 16 weeks than they were at 10 weeks of age. Moreover, at 16 weeks of age they were lower in SHR than in WKY. On the other hand, NADP(+)-isocitrate dehydrogenase activity, a mitochondria associated enzyme, was higher in SHR than in WKY at 6 weeks, but lower at 10 and again at 16 weeks of age. The activities of both acid phosphatase and N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase, which are lysosomal enzymes, decreased with age in SHR but not in WKY. These results suggest that an enzymatic alteration in the plasma membrane and mitochondria may be one of important factors behind myocardial vulnerability in the SHR heart.