Establishment of a Rat Model of Aldosterone-Producing Adenoma

［Abstract］Objective　To establish a rat model of aldosterone-producing adenoma（APA）. Methods　16 Sprague-Dawley rats subcutaneously implanted with an osmotic mini-pump，were randomly divided into 2 groups： control group（vehicle）and APA（1 μg/h）group．Because the mini-pump（ALZET 2004）could continuously infuse test substance for 4 weeks，another minipump was replaced after the fourth week to make the duration of aldosterone infusion for 8 weeks．Systolic blood pressure（SBP）was measured weekly by the tail-cuff method．At the termination of the study，blood was collected for measurements of plasma renin activity（PRA）and aldosterone concontration（PAC）with radioimmunoassay kits．Results　After 3 weeks，APA rats showed significantly and progressively increased SBP compared with controls（P＜0.05），and the SBP level reached peak on 7th week and remained high levels．PRA was substantially depressed and PAC was significantly raised in APA rats（P＜0.01）． Conclusion　By implanting osmotic minipumps subcutaneously， the rat models of APA can be successfully established， which provide a good platform for investigating the pathogenesis of APA.