Objective: To study blood pressure, renal sodium excretion and related renal sodium channels and signaling pathways in male and female mice, and to preliminarily explore the relationship between gender differences in blood pressure and renal sodium channels.
Methods: Adult female and male mice were selected, the blood pressure of the mice was measured with a non-invasive blood pressure meter, the sodium ion concentration in the blood and urine of the mouse was measured with a flame spectrophotometer, and the sodium chloride symporter in the kidney of the mouse was detected by Real-time PCR and Western-Blot ( NCC), sodium potassium chloride symporter (NKCC2), epithelial sodium ion channel (ENaC) expression levels, and upstream lysine-deficient serine threonine protein kinase (WNK kinase) mRNA levels.
Results: Female rats have lower blood pressure than male rats, and higher urine sodium excretion than male rats. The mRNA and protein levels of NCC and NKCC2 have increased significantly, ENaC has no significant difference, WNK4 has increased significantly, and WNK1 has no difference.
Conclusion: The lower blood pressure of female mice than male mice may be caused by increased urinary sodium excretion of female mice, and WNK4-NCC/NKCC2 signaling pathway is involved in its regulation.