Effects of obesity on the pharmacodynamics of nitroglycerin in conscious rats

Literature reports have suggested that hemodynamic response toward organic nitrates may be reduced in obese patients, but this effect has not been studied. We compared the mean arterial pressure (MAP) responses toward single doses of nitroglycerin (NTG), 0.5–50μg) in conscious Zucker obese (ZOB), Zucker lean (ZL), and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. NTG tolerance development in these animal groups was separately examined. Rats received 1 and 10μg/min of NTG or vehicle infusion, and the maximal MAP response to an hourly 30μg NTG IVchallenge dose (CD) was measured. Steady-state NTG plasma concentrations were measured during 10μg/min NTG infusion. The E_max and ED₅₀ values obtained were 33.9± 3.6 and 3.5±1.7μg for SD rats, 33.2±4.1 and 3.0±1.4μg for ZL rats, and 34.8±3.9 and 5.3±2.8μg for ZOB rats, respectively. No difference was found in the dose-response curves among these 3 groups (p>.05, 2-way ANOVA). Neither the dynamics of NTG tolerance development, nor the steady-state NTG plasma concentrations, were found to differ among these 3 animal groups. These results showed that ZOB rats are not more resistant to the hemodynamic effects of organic nitrates compared with their lean controls. Thus, the acute and chronic hemodynamic effects by the presence of obesity in a conscious animal model of genetic obesity.