Sodium Chloride Decrease Body Weight of Non-water Deprived Rattus Norvegicus

Effect of hypertonic sodium chloride was studied in non water deprived Wistar albino rats. Twenty (20) Wistar albino rats weighing between 128.4g and 470.2g were obtained from Veterinary Physiology, Pharmacology and Biochemistry Departmental animal house, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria. The rats were housed in cages and administered 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.10 and 0.20mg/g body weight of 10% sodium chloride on 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th day respectively to induce hypertension. Growerʹs marsh® and fresh clean water were provided ad libitum. The weights of the rats were recorded daily, but the heart rates were recorded on the 1st, 5th, 8th and 19th day of experiment. Pretreatment and post-treatment blood samples were collected on the 1st and the 5th days respectively for determination of haematological and biochemical parameters. The results of daily average weight gain/loss of the experimental rats revealed significant difference (p < 0.05) of 16.0, 0.1*, 5.3, 3.9*, 4.7* and 8.9g* on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 19th day respectively. There was significnant increased heart rate (p<0.05) on the 5th, 8th and 19th day given 209 ± 14, 222 ± 20 and 271 ± 7 beats/minute respectively. The post treatment creatinine value (91.94 ± 13.96^mol/L) was lower than pretreatment value (106.88 ± 42.14 ^mol/L). Hypertonic saline caused weight loss which was progressively regained, increased heart rate and decreased plasma creatinine. Adult rats lost body weight much more than young rats. Hence the strain of rats used for this study may be good for hypertensive experiment