Influence of hypertension on serum concentration of type IV collagen antigens in streptozotocin-diabetic and non-diabetic rats.

The serum concentration of 7S collagen was measured radioimmunologically as a marker of basement membrane type IV collagen synthesis in diabetic and nondiabetic rats with Goldblatt hypertension. In non-diabetic rats the 7S collagen level was significantly raised after induction of hypertension (51%; p less than 0.001), and showed a positive correlation with relative heart weight as an integral parameter of hypertension (r = 0.63; p less than 0.01). In diabetic rats, which displayed a 7S collagen concentration roughly 2.5 times as high as the metabolically normal animals, the 7S collagen level was 27% higher in the hypertensive animals (p less than 0.01). There was no correlation with blood pressure or heart weight, but only a positive correlation with blood glucose (r = 0.51; p less than 0.05). The results indicate that haemodynamic alterations may alter basement membrane collagen metabolism. However, type IV collagen metabolism in diabetes is influenced to a greater extent by metabolic than by haemodynamic factors.