Renal Denervation Attenuates Progression of Atherosclerosis in Apolipoprotein E–Deficient Mice Independent of Blood Pressure Lowering

The renal autonomic nervous system may contribute to hypertension and vascular disease. Although the effects of renal artery denervation on blood pressure lowering are controversial, there may be other beneficial vascular effects independent of blood pressure lowering. Bilateral renal denervation (RDN) or sham operation (SO) was performed in 14-week-old male apolipoprotein E–deficient mice on a Western diet starting at 10 weeks of age. Efficacy of RDN was confirmed by reduction of renal norepinephrine levels (SO: 3.8±0.1 versus RDN: 1.7±0.3 ng/mL; P P =0.25), total cholesterol (SO: 536.7±28.5 versus RDN: 535.7±62.9 mg/dL; P =0.99), or triglycerides (SO: 83.7±3.5 versus RDN: 86.9±10.2 mg/dL; P =0.78). Quantification of atherosclerosis at 20 weeks of age demonstrated reduced atherosclerosis in mice receiving RDN compared with SO (arterial tree oil-red-O surface staining RDN: 4.2±0.5% versus SO: 6.3±0.7%; P P P P P