Abstract

The Dahl rat is one of the most widely studied rodent models of hypertension with over 1600 references in the literature over the past 35 years. While many studies have focused on physiology, more recent investigations have concentrated on the genetics. While there is already evidence for the Dahl rats value in probing the genetics of human hypertension, there are several reservations and significant limitations.

Keywords: polymorphisms, dahl saltsensitive, wistar kyoto(wky) rats, atrial natriuretic peptide receptor (gca), single nucleotide polymorphisms(snps), ras pathway, epithelial sodium channel (enac), mineralocorticoid receptor