Plasma phosphate values are significantly lower in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) than in normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). In this study, we increased plasma phosphate in SHR by a dietary phosphate intake and followed the effects on blood pressure. Fifteen male WKY and 15 male SHR were housed from 4 weeks of age up to 26 weeks. At 4 weeks of age all SHR manifested a hypophosphatemia compared with age-matched WKY (F = 62, p less than 0.0003). At 5 weeks of age, the rats were divided into three diet groups: a control group, a group receiving 1.41% (wt/vol) KCl in drinking water, and a group receiving 2% (wt/vol) K2HPO4 X KH2PO4 in drinking water. In the control (F = 16.2, p less than 0.02) and KCl groups, (F = 36.3, p less than 0.03), hypophosphatemia persisted throughout the study. The phosphate-supplemented diet normalized plasma phosphate level in SHR but did not change plasma phosphate level in WKY. As a consequence, no difference in plasma phosphate level between WKY and SHR was present in the group receiving additional phosphate from that time on (F = 1.2, p greater than 0.41). The phosphate-supplemented diet significantly decreased systolic blood pressure in both strains. In phosphate-supplemented SHR, a significant decline in systolic blood pressure was observed from 20 weeks of age on (at 20 weeks of age: 222 +/- 3 mm Hg for control SHR vs 198 +/- 5 mm Hg for phosphate-supplemented SHR; p less than 0.0003).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)