Expression at the haemopoietic stem cell level of the genetically determined erythrocyte membrane defects in the Milan hypertensive rat strain (MHS).

Both humans and rats with essential or genetic arterial hypertension show many alterations of erythrocyte membrane ion transport. The Milan hypertensive rat strain (MHS) has smaller red cells and faster Na+/K+ cotransport across erythrocyte membrane when compared with the control strain (MNS). In order to distinguish if these alterations are due to some inherited cell membrane characteristics or are secondary to some extrinsic factor responsible for hypertension, we have transplanted bone marrow (BM) cells from MHS or MNS rats to two groups of F1 hybrids, lethally irradiated (850 R). Three months after BM transplantation the F1 recipients were killed and their erythrocytes studied. The differences between erythrocytes of F1 MHS BM recipients and F1 MNS BM recipients follow the same pattern described for the donor parental strains. These results indicate that the MHS red cell abnormalities are present in the haemopoietic stem cell and therefore the MHS erythrocyte defects are not due to some extrinsic factors.