TY - JOUR
T1 - High-salt intake affects retinal vascular tortuosity in healthy males: an exploratory randomized cross-over trial
AU - Wenstedt, Eliane F. E.
AU - Beugelink, Lisanne
AU - Schrooten, Esmee M.
AU - Rademaker, Emma
AU - Rorije, Nienke M. G.
AU - Wouda, Rosa D.
AU - Schlingemann, Reinier O.
AU - Wong, Tien Y.
AU - Vogt, Liffert
N1 - Funding Information: LV was supported by a Dutch Kidney Foundation Junior Kolff Grant (KJPB 11.22), Senior Kolff Grant (18OKG12), and ZonMW Clinical Fellowship Grant (90700310). Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - The retinal microcirculation is increasingly receiving credit as a relatively easily accessible microcirculatory bed that correlates closely with clinical cardiovascular outcomes. The effect of high salt (NaCl) intake on the retinal microcirculation is currently unknown. Therefore, we performed an exploratory randomized cross-over dietary intervention study in 18 healthy males. All subjects adhered to a two-week high-salt diet and low-salt diet, in randomized order, after which fundus photographs were taken and assessed using a semi-automated computer-assisted program (SIVA, version 4.0). Outcome parameters involved retinal venular and arteriolar tortuosity, vessel diameter, branching angle and fractal dimension. At baseline, participants had a mean (SD) age of 29.8 (4.4) years and blood pressure of 117 (9)/73 (5) mmHg. Overall, high-salt diet significantly increased venular tortuosity (12.2%, p = 0.001). Other retinal parameters were not significantly different between diets. Changes in arteriolar tortuosity correlated with changes in ambulatory systolic blood pressure (r = − 0.513; p = 0.04). In conclusion, high-salt diet increases retinal venular tortuosity, and salt-induced increases in ambulatory systolic blood pressure associate with decreases in retinal arteriolar tortuosity. Besides potential eye-specific consequences, both phenomena have previously been associated with hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors, underlining the deleterious microcirculatory effects of high salt intake.
AB - The retinal microcirculation is increasingly receiving credit as a relatively easily accessible microcirculatory bed that correlates closely with clinical cardiovascular outcomes. The effect of high salt (NaCl) intake on the retinal microcirculation is currently unknown. Therefore, we performed an exploratory randomized cross-over dietary intervention study in 18 healthy males. All subjects adhered to a two-week high-salt diet and low-salt diet, in randomized order, after which fundus photographs were taken and assessed using a semi-automated computer-assisted program (SIVA, version 4.0). Outcome parameters involved retinal venular and arteriolar tortuosity, vessel diameter, branching angle and fractal dimension. At baseline, participants had a mean (SD) age of 29.8 (4.4) years and blood pressure of 117 (9)/73 (5) mmHg. Overall, high-salt diet significantly increased venular tortuosity (12.2%, p = 0.001). Other retinal parameters were not significantly different between diets. Changes in arteriolar tortuosity correlated with changes in ambulatory systolic blood pressure (r = − 0.513; p = 0.04). In conclusion, high-salt diet increases retinal venular tortuosity, and salt-induced increases in ambulatory systolic blood pressure associate with decreases in retinal arteriolar tortuosity. Besides potential eye-specific consequences, both phenomena have previously been associated with hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors, underlining the deleterious microcirculatory effects of high salt intake.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099247978&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79753-6
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79753-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 33436709
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 11
JO - Scientific reports
JF - Scientific reports
IS - 1
M1 - 801
ER -