SUMMARY Rat erythrocytes with five different amounts of Na+ content have been prepared by using a new, nondetrimental Na+-loading method (net NaHPO 4 " influx through the anion carrier). This method allowed the determination of 1) maximal translocation rates and apparent dissociation constants for internal Na+ of the Na+-K+ pump, outward Na+-K+ cotransport, and Na+-Li+ countertransport and 2) rate constants of Na+ leak in erythrocytes from spontaneously hypertensive rats of the Okamoto strain and Wistar-Kyoto normotensive controls aged 2 to 26 weeks. Two major abnormalities were found in erythrocytes from spontaneously hypertensive rats: 1) a decreased cotransport affinity for internal Na +, which was constantly observed from 2 to 26 weeks of age (mean intracellular Na+ content for half-maximal stimulation of outward Na+-K+ cotransport = 33.1 ± 7.0 [SD] mmol/L cells in spontaneously hypertensive rats vs 16.7 ± 4.7 mmol/L cells in Wistar-Kyoto rats; p<0.001), and 2) a decreased maximal pump rate in adult (15-to 26-week-old) spontaneously hypertensive as compared with that for age-matched Wistar-Kyoto rats (9-37 vs 34-70 mmol/L cells/hr). Therefore, the low cotransport affinity for internal Na+ appears to be a stable, possibly genetic defect of spontaneously hypertensive rats. Conversely, the decreased maximal pump rate may be a secondary event, possibly reflecting the appearance of endogenous pump inhibitors in the plasma of adult spontaneously hypertensive rats. (Hypertension 11: 41-48, 1988) KEY WORDS • ion transport • sodium transport • hypertension • membranes erythrocyte • rats • spontaneously hypertensive rats E PIDEMIOLOGICAL, clinical, and experimental studies have suggested that an inborn error of Na + metabolism is involved in the pathogenesis of primary hypertension.1 This hypothesis has been extensively investigated by measuring Na + content and Na + flux in circulating cells from rats and humans with primary hypertension (for a review, see Reference 2). The results were very difficult to interpret in both animals and humans. In the former, abnormal cell Na + handling was frequently observed, but the nature of the transport alteration differed markedly among different strains (see, for instance, Reference 3). In the latter, marked discrepancies characterized the results of various clinical investigations.2 Much of this variability in the data can be accounted for by methodological problems. The flux studies were performed by measuring transport activity under a fixed