Consumption of foods high in salt and fructose has been increasing worldwide due to availability of fructose corn syrup and ease of consumption. As a result, the risk of cardiorenal diseases associated with high salt and fructose diet is rising. Several investigators have shown that a fructose combined with high salt diet increases blood pressure in rats. We tested the hypothesis that sodium-glucose cotransporter 5 (SGLT5) knockout will improve blood pressure. For this study, we have used male and female Sprague Dawley (SD) SGLT -/- rats in metabolic cage. After a baseline period (1 week) on 20% glucose+0.4% NaCl diet, experimental rats were randomly assigned to the following groups: 20% glucose+0.4% NaCl (Glucose-NS) and 20% fructose+4.0% NaCl (Fructose-HS) for 12 weeks. During the experimental period, food and water consumption as well as urinary excretion was assessed every 24 hours. The food consumption in Glucose-NS and Fructose-HS was 20.2 ±0.8 gm/day and 16.3±1.6 gm/day, respectively in male rats. The calories intake in Glucose-NS and Fructose-HS was 80.4±3.4 kcal/day and 58.8±5.6 kcal/day gradually. The daily water consumption was 38.2±0.8 mL and 56.5±0.7 mL in Glucose-NS and Fructose-HS respectively in male rats. The urine volume in Glucose-NS and Fructose-HS was 18.7±6.08 mL/day and 37.1±3.5 mL/day respectively in male rats. The body weight gain was comparatively lower in Fructose-HS (206±8 gm) compared to Glucose-NS (256±16 gm). However, the tibia length was same in both Glucose-NS (44.92±0.36 mm) and Fructose-HS (45.45±0.98 mm) in male rats. Moreover, the heart and the kidney weight was almost same in both group in male rats. The weight of heart was 1.91±0.25 gm and 1.50±0.16 gm in Glucose-NS and Fructose-HS respectively. Total kidney weight was 3.45±0.07 gm and 3.05± 0.19 gm in Glucose-NS and Fructose-HS groups. In contrast, the liver weight was 14.43±2.58 gm and 17.28±1.67 gm Glucose-NS and Fructose-HS groups respectively. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) was 111.73±1.27 mmHg and 110.35± 0.77 mmHg in Glucose-NS and Fructose-HS group respectively in male rats. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) 0.27±0.01 and 0.52±0.01 ml/min/100g body weight in Glucose-NS and Fructose-HS respectively. All the results of female rats were similar to those in the male rats. In contrast to wild type rats, the SGLT5 knockout rats are resistant to increases in blood pressure when on a high salt and fructose diet. Nor did the diet alter organ weights except for liver weights. Our results demonstrated that knockout of SGLT5 transporter prevents hypertension but may still result in potential liver abnormalities. Funded by NIH R01-HL163844) This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.
Siddiqui et al. (Fri,) studied this question.