Morphometric investigation of hypertrophy in the arteries of DOCA‐hypertensive rats

The increase in peripheral resistance of the vascular bed in hypertension has been attributed to adaptive hypertrophy of the media or a so‐called contracture of the arterial wall due to altered reactivity of smooth muscle cells. We have measured medial cross‐sectional area, numbers of smooth muscle cell nuclei and the relative proportions of scleroporteins present in the media in hypertensive rats. The results show that hyperplasia of smooth muscle cells and an increase in medial area occur in hypertension, a change most marked in the peripheral branches of the renal artery.