No abstract

No abstract

The goal of these studies was to determine whether the hypertension caused by excessive salt loading results from sodium-induced expansion of the extracellular fluid volume or whether the salt increases the pressure in some other way, such as by causing vascular constriction. In one group of sheep, a combination of total nephrectomy and hemodialysis was used to produce and maintain step increases in extracellular fluid volume for 1 wk without a significant change in sodium ion concentration. In a 2nd group, unilateral nephrectomy, dialysis, and DOCA administration were used to cause step increases in sodium ion concentration while the extracellular fluid volume was held as close to normal as possible. The results showed a 41% increase in arterial pressure in the high-volume sheep and only a 4% increase in pressure in the high-sodium sheep. In both instances the total exchangeable sodium increased almost equally--a 21% increase in the high-sodium sheep. The data support the concept that sodium retention causes hypertension almost entirely because of sodium-induced expansion of the extracellular fluid volume.

The effects of long-term hypoproteinemia on renal hemodynamics, arterial pressure, and fluid volume were studied in eight conscious dogs over a 34-day period. Plasma protein concentration (PPC) was decreased by daily plasmapheresis, and the effects of decreasing and increasing sodium intake were measured. By the 12th day of plasmapheresis, during which sodium intake was 30 meq/day, PPC had decreased to 2.5 g/dl from a control value of 7.2 g/dl, mean arterial pressure had decreased to 78% of control, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was 75.2% of control, and urinary sodium excretion was decreased. By day 18 of plasmapheresis, estimated renal plasma flow (ERPF) was decreased to 60% of control due to the decreased arterial pressure and an increase in renal vascular resistance. Also, plasma renin activity and plasma aldosterone concentration were both increased, and the relationship between mean arterial pressure and urinary sodium excretion was distinctly shifted to the left along the arterial pressure axis. In contradistinction to acute experiments, chronic hypoproteinemia results in decreases in GFR, ERPF, and urinary sodium excretion and has marked effects on both fluid volume and arterial pressure regulation.

1. Many forms of human and experimental hypertension begin with compromised renal function. Essential hypertension may be another such case. 2. The kidneys of subjects with essential hypertension excrete normal amounts of salt and water at higher-than-normal renal perfusing pressures. Other overt signs of renal dysfunction are few; renal disease is excluded by definition. However, renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate are usually less than normal in essential hypertension. 3. Renal afferent resistance can be calculated from arterial pressure, renal blood flow, and an estimate of glomerular capillary pressure. These calculations indicate that afferent resistance is increased to two or more times normal in essential hypertension. 4. It is not clear whether afferent constriction causes hypertension or results from it. The ability of high pressure to produce vascular damage points to the latter. But, most essential hypertensives show low-to-normal plasma renin levels and a marked afferent dilation after saline loading. These observations do not suggest nephrosclerosis: they are consistent with a causal role for afferent constriction. 5. We can speculate that, in essential hypertension, there is a defect in one of the mechanisms that sets afferent resistance. Afferent constriction could result from extrinsic influences (neural or humoral) or something totally within the kidney, such as abnormal handling of information from the macula densa. 6. The effect of afferent constriction on salt-and-water excretion would theoretically be offset by elevated arterial pressure so that the actual salt-and-water excretion would be normal, but only so long as the arterial pressure remained elevated.