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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Oct 28.
Published in final edited form as: Circ Res. 2016 Sep 22;119(10):1101–1115. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.116.309402

Figure 5. 2 Week Nicotine Infusion Induces Pre-mature Development of Hypertension in Pre-Hypertensive SHR and Persistent Increase in Renal Medulla CD161a+/CD68+ Macrophage Infiltration.

Figure 5

Young (3–4 week old) WKY and SHR were implanted with osmotic pumps infusing either saline (dashed-lines, n=10, each strain) or nicotine (15mg/kg/day) (solid-lines, n=10, each strain). Blood pressure was monitored by tail-cuff over the course of 2 weeks (A). Renal cortex/corticomedullary junction were harvested at termination and stained for CD68 for immunohistochemistry (B). Renal medulla was also stained with CD68 (red) and CD161a (green) and confocal microscopy (C) was performed to determine whether CD68+ renal macrophages co-expressed CD161a. In vivo cholinergic activation with subcutaneous nicotine induces early development of hypertension in the SHR, compared to SHR with saline and WKY with either saline or nicotine. Nicotine infusion led to a significant increase in CD161a+/CD68+ macrophages in renal tissues of young nicotine infused SHR. Images are 40x of the renal medulla. Error bars represent standard error of the mean (SEM). *** = p<0.003, based on two-way ANOVA.