Male gender increases sensitivity to proteinuria induced by mild NOS inhibition in rats: role of sex hormones

sitivity to proteinuria induced by mild NOS inhibition in rats: role of sex hormones. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 279: F664–F670, 2000.—Men are at greater risk for renal injury than women. We studied whether male rats are more sensi-tive to the hypertensive and proteinuric effects of chronic nitric oxide sythase (NOS) inhibition than female rats. In addition, we studied whether androgens or estrogens are responsible for differences in sensitivity to proteinuria in-duced by chronic NOS inhibition. Females and males were treated with 10, 20, 30, and 100 mg/l Nv-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA) during 24 wk. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and proteinuria were measured regularly and compared with time-control measurements in control females and males. In females and males treatment with 10 mg/l L-NNA had no effect on SBP or proteinuria. Treatment with 20, 30, and 10