Introduction: Hypertension is nearly universal in kidney transplant and several factors are associated with post transplant hypertension, including immunosuppressive medications and genetic predisposition.
Objective: The aims were to evaluate the effects of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) kidney transplantation in Wistar rats and the possible transference of 80/90-kDa N-domain ACE.
Methods: To do so, the data from Wistar recipients of kidney from SHR were compared to data from transplanted Wistar submitted to CsA treatment and, to Wistar Sham.
Results and discussion: Despite the unaltered blood pressure observed at early stages, 80/90-kDa ACE was found expressed in the urine of rats 7 and 15 days after transplantation, which was intense when rats became hypertensive 30 days post-surgery.
Conclusion: Our data show that this enzyme is associated with the development of hypertension, and this marker appears in the urine before any substantial blood pressure alteration.