Pressor responsiveness to angiotensin in soy-fed spontaneously hypertensive rats

Dietary soy may attenuate the development of arterial hypertension. In addition, some soy-containing foods exhibit angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory properties. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that ACE inhibition contributes to the antihypertensive effect of dietary soy. Mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) was recorded from conscious spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) at least 24 h after the implantation of catheters. Cumulative dose–response curves to intravenous angiotensin I (AI) (5–100 ng·kg–1·min–1) and angiotensin II (AII) (1–20 ng·kg–1·min–1) were constructed for male, sham-operated female, and ovariectomized female (OVX) SHR that were maintained on either casein or soy diets. The soy diet was associated with a significant reduction in baseline MAP in the OVX SHR (~20 mmHg, 1 mmHg = 133.322 Pa). AI and AII infusions caused graded increases in MAP in all groups. However, there was no significant attenuation of the pressor responses to AI in the soy-fed SHR. Conversely, we observed a significant rightward displacement of the AII dose–response curves in the soy-fed sham-operated and OVX SHR. We conclude that ACE inhibition does not account for the antihypertensive effect of dietary soy in mature SHR.Key words: dietary soy, hypertension, SHR, angiotensin I, angiotensin II.