Rats with a genetic susceptibility to hypertension were exposed for 26 weeks to the stress of a chronic food-shock conflict while being fed a diet containing 2% NaCl. The rats developed modest elevations in blood pressure. These elevations were greater than those previously observed in conflict-exposed rats fed a very-low-sodium diet and much greater than those observed in unstressed rats fed 2% NaCl ad libitum. However, the elevations in blood pressure were less severe than those usually exhibited by genetically similar rats fed a diet containing 4 or 8% NaCl without the superimposition of psychological stress. The results suggest that, although psychological stress can synergistically interact with sodium, its hy-pertensinogenic potency remains conjectural.
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Friedman et al. (1977) studied this question.