Abstract
Summary
An experiment is reported which confirms the successful production of hypertension in rats by the administration of lead for prolonged periods.
Post-mortem studies on 10 hypertensive rats and one similarly treated rat, which failed to develop hypertension, revealed no significant blood vessel alterations.
The most striking and consistent finding was the presence of basophilic cytoplasmic inclusions, which may represent lead or lead salts, most commonly in the tubular epithelial cells of the kidney and the Kupffer cells of the liver.
Renal changes similar to those described by others in chronic lead intoxication in both humans and experimental animals were also observed but were irregular and inconspicuous features.
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