Visualizing Vascular Mechanisms of Salt Sensitivity

Hypertension is a major cause of heart disease, heart failure, and stroke. Hypertension, or
high blood pressure, affects people differently and is related to the body's ability to
maintain healthy circulation of salt. Some individuals may be affected by salt sensitive
blood pressure (SSBP), when their blood pressure changes in response to dietary salt load.
SSBP is a prevalent, independent risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease that
preferentially affects black individuals. Current methods to assess SSBP require dietary salt
loading over the course of days to weeks, and measurement of blood pressure following high
salt diet and low salt diet. Such lengthy protocols are not feasible in a clinical setting to
evaluate this risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and more importantly, these procedures
provide incomplete information about mechanisms of salt sensitivity.

Our knowledge regarding salt handling in the body is limited. While renal dysfunction is
partly responsible for SSBP, recent research points to the role of lymphatic vascular
clearance in regulating tissue salt storage and blood pressure control. To better understand
these mechanisms in vivo, we have recently developed a noninvasive magnetic resonance (MR)
lymphangiography method sensitive to lymphatic vasculature, and applied standardized MR
protocols for measuring tissue sodium and fat storage in adults with impaired lymphatic
clearance. We found evidence of lymph stasis and tissue salt deposition that correlated with
local subcutaneous fat volume. Here, we will test whether similar lymphatic pathways are
impaired in persons with SSBP, leading to tissue salt and fat storage, in comparison to the
involvement of renal dysfunction in SSBP tissue profiles.

The aims of this study are to improve our understanding of vascular mechanisms of human salt
storage, and to provide standardized radiologic biomarkers sensitive to the SSBP phenotype.
This study will test the primary hypothesis that the SSBP response is correlated with
baseline tissue sodium storage, and elevated in persons with salt sensitivity. Secondary
hypotheses will address whether the SSBP response is related to fat storage, lymphatic
vascular function, renal vascular function, and impaired target organ responses to salt
loading, including decreased urinary sodium excretion, and less suppression of plasma renin
and serum aldosterone.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Identification as black race

- Age between 18 and 55 years

- Body mass index between 25 and <35 kg/m2

- Normotensive or pre-hypertensive

- Willing to adhere to study diets

- Able to provide informed consent and communicate with study personnel

Exclusion Criteria:

- Prevalent cardiovascular disease or use of medications for cardiovascular disease

- Current or prior history of hypertension or use of blood pressure lowering medications

- Current or prior history of diabetes mellitus or use of anti-diabetic medications

- Prevalent renal disease (eGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73m2), abnormal serum sodium or potassium

- Current or prior smoker

- Current pregnancy, or use of hormone replacement therapy or oral contraceptive

- Current steroid use

- Contraindications to MRI

- Active infection or open wounds on the top of the feet or hands