Biochemical Correlates of the Increase in Blood Pressure with Age

1978 ◽  
Vol 55 (s4) ◽  
pp. 377s-379s ◽  
Author(s):  
C. E. Grim ◽  
M. H. Weinberger ◽  
D. P. Henry ◽  
F. C. Luft ◽  
N. S. Fineberg

1. Blood pressure, plasma renin activity, plasma aldosterone, urinary noradrenaline during sleep (UNA-S) and several estimates of sodium intake were determined in 379 normotensive subjects (age 13–70) to investigate the relationship of these variables to blood pressure. 2. Blood pressure was correlated with age, weight, plasma renin activity UNA-S, and estimates of sodium intake. These variables were frequently intercorrelated. 3. Multiple-correlation analysis revealed that after removal of the effects of age, blood pressure was related to weight, plasma renin activity, UNA-S and estimates of sodium intake. 4. However, multiple-regression analysis failed to demonstrate an effect of plasma renin activity, UNA-S, or estimates of sodium intake on blood pressure when the effects of age, weight, race and sex were removed. 5. Careful matching of subjects by age, weight, race and sex in studies of blood pressure and biochemical factors in normal subjects is crucial to proper interpretation of such data.

1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (s5) ◽  
pp. 145s-148s ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. MacGregor ◽  
N. D. Markandu ◽  
J. E. Roulston

1. Propranolol, saralasin and captopril changed blood pressure in normotensive as well as hypertensive subjects. 2. The percentage change in blood pressure with these three drugs for a given plasma renin activity was similar in normotensive and hypertensive subjects. 3. This suggests that when the renin-angiotensin system is maintaining blood pressure, it maintains the blood pressure to the same extent in percentage terms in normotensive and hypertensive subjects for a given plasma renin activity. 4. Saralasin has marked agonist activity, and probably underestimates the participation of the renin—angiotensin—aldosterone system in the maintenance of blood pressure. The fall in blood pressure that occurred with captopril in normal subjects on their normal sodium intake suggests that the renin—angiotensin—aldosterone system may have an important role in the control of blood pressure in normal subjects on their normal sodium intake. If it does, our results suggest that the renin—angiotensin—aldosterone system plays no greater role in maintaining blood pressure in patients with essential hypertension than normotensive subjects for a given plasma renin activity.


1976 ◽  
Vol 51 (s3) ◽  
pp. 177s-180s ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Gordon ◽  
Freda Doran ◽  
M. Thomas ◽  
Frances Thomas ◽  
P. Cheras

1. As experimental models of reduced nephron population in man, (a) twelve men aged 15–32 years who had one kidney removed 1–13 years previously and (b) fourteen normotensive men aged 70–90 years were studied. Results were compared with those in eighteen normotensive men aged 18–28 years and eleven men aged 19–33 years with essential hypertension. 2. While the subjects followed a routine of normal diet and daily activity, measurements were made, after overnight recumbency and in the fasting state, of plasma volume and renin activity on one occasion in hospital and of blood pressure on five to fourteen occasions in the home. Blood pressure was also measured after standing for 2 min and plasma renin activity after 1 h standing, sitting or walking. Twenty-four hour urinary aldosterone excretion was also measured. 3. The measurements were repeated in the normotensive subjects and subjects in (a) and (b) above after 10 days of sodium-restricted diet (40 mmol of sodium/day). 4. The mean plasma renin activity (recumbent) in essential hypertensive subjects was higher than in normotensive subjects. In subjects of (a) and (b) above, it was lower than normotensive subjects, and was not increased by dietary sodium restriction in subjects of (a). 5. The mean aldosterone excretion level was lower in old normotensive subjects than in the other groups, and increased in each group after dietary sodium restriction. 6. Mean plasma volume/surface area was not different between the four groups and in normotensive, essential hypertensive and nephrectomized subjects but not subjects aged 70–90 years was negatively correlated with standing diastolic blood pressure.


1992 ◽  
Vol 262 (3) ◽  
pp. R524-R529 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. D. Binder ◽  
D. F. Anderson

We examined the relationship between acute reductions in renal perfusion pressure, as approximated by femoral arterial blood pressure, and plasma renin activity in the uninephrectomized fetal lamb. Renal perfusion pressure was reduced and maintained at a constant value by controlled partial occlusion of the aorta above the renal artery. After 15 min of reduced blood pressure, blood samples were taken for determination of plasma renin activity. This protocol was performed 22 times in 11 fetal lambs. Additionally, three of the fetuses were delivered by cesarean section and studied as newborns for the first week of life. In the fetus, there was a linear relationship between log plasma renin activity and femoral arterial blood pressure (P less than 0.01). After birth, the relationship still existed, although it was shifted to the right (P less than 0.0001). We conclude that there is a significant relationship between plasma renin activity and renal perfusion pressure in the fetal lamb, and as early as 1 day after birth, this relationship shifts to the right in the newborn lamb.


1985 ◽  
Vol 249 (6) ◽  
pp. F941-F947 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Roos ◽  
H. A. Koomans ◽  
E. J. Dorhout Mees ◽  
I. M. Delawi

We studied renal sodium handling, extracellular fluid volume (ECFV), plasma renin activity, aldosterone and norepinephrine, and blood pressure in eight healthy volunteers after equilibration on intakes of 20, 200, and 1,128 +/- 141 meq sodium, respectively. Renal sodium handling was assessed by means of clearance studies during maximal water diuresis and lithium clearance. Urinary sodium excretions were 22 +/- 4, 202 +/- 19, and 1,052 +/- 86 meq/day. From the lower to the upper sodium intake level, 24-h creatinine clearance rose from 111 +/- 7 to 136 +/- 11 ml/min and inulin clearance from 103 +/- 9 to 129 +/- 9 ml/min, whereas proximal and distal fractional sodium reabsorption (FSRprox and FSRdist, respectively) fell from 86.8 +/- 1.3 to 79.0 +/- 2.7% and from 96.5 +/- 0.5 to 76.0 +/- 1.9%, respectively. During the normal sodium intake (200 meq), intermediate values were recorded. The changes in fractional lithium clearance were less consistent but correlated with FSRprox (r = 0.78, P less than 0.001) and not with FSRdist. Major changes in plasma renin activity, aldosterone, and, to a lesser extent, norepinephrine accompanied these changes in kidney function, displaying inverse and exponential correlations with daily sodium excretion and ECFV. No consistent rise in blood pressure was detected. These observations indicate that in healthy humans renal adaptation to vast variations in sodium intake includes resetting of glomerular filtration rate, FSRprox, and, in particular, FSRdist. Alterations in neurohumoral factors may play a dominant role in this adaptation.


1981 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Mathias ◽  
H. L. Frankel ◽  
I. B. Davies ◽  
V. H. T. James ◽  
W. S. Peart

1. The effect of endogenous sympathetic stimulation (induced by urinary bladder stimulation) and intravenous infusion of noradrenaline and isoprenaline on blood pressure, heart rate and levels of plasma renin activity and plasma aldosterone were studied in six tetraplegic patients. Data from infusion studies were compared with data from six normal subjects studied in an identical manner. 2. Bladder stimulation in the tetraplegic patients caused a marked rise in blood pressure and fall in heart rate, but no change in plasma renin activity or plasma aldosterone. 3. Noradrenaline infusion resulted in an enhanced pressor response in the tetraplegic patients when compared with the normal subjects. Heart rate fell in both groups. Plasma renin activity and plasma aldosterone did not change in either group. 4. Isoprenaline infusion caused a fall in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the tetraplegic patients, unlike the normal subjects in whom there was a rise in systolic and a fall in diastolic blood pressure. Heart rate and plasma renin activity rose in both groups. Plasma aldosterone did not change in either group. 5. We conclude that in tetraplegic patients neither endogenous sympathetic stimulation by bladder stimulation nor infusion of noradrenaline raises plasma renin activity. Isoprenaline increases plasma renin activity to the same extent as in normal subjects. Renin release mechanisms in tetraplegic patients therefore do not appear to be hypersensitive to catecholamines. Plasma aldosterone is not influenced by any of the stimuli.


1978 ◽  
Vol 55 (s4) ◽  
pp. 367s-371s ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Bianchi ◽  
G. B. Picotti ◽  
G. Bracchi ◽  
D. Cusi ◽  
M. Gatti ◽  
...  

1. Almost all the factors that may cause a rise in blood pressure are, in turn, influenced by the increase in blood pressure per se. Thus any primary involvement of one or more of these factors in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension must be evaluated before or during the development of hypertension. 2. Young normotensive subjects both of whose parents are hypertensive have a much higher probability of developing hypertension than those whose parents are both normotensive. 3. The following measurements were made in 56 subjects of the first group (both parents hypertensive) and 35 of the second group (both parents normotensive), matched for age, sex and body surface area: renal plasma flow and glomerular filtration rate, using p-aminohippurate and inulin clearance; 24 h urinary excretion of aldosterone, protein and electrolytes; plasma renin activity; plasma volume. Plasma catecholamines and cardiac index were also measured in 26 subjects of the first group and 25 subjects of the second group using a radioenzymic method and echocardiography. 4. All these factors were similar in the two groups except that renal plasma flow was higher in the first group (767·2 ± 30 versus 650·7 ± 17 ml/min, P < 0·01). Plasma renin activity tended to be lower in subjects with a higher renal plasma flow, but there was no significant negative correlation between the two factors. 5. The possibility that the higher renal plasma flow in subjects with a high probability of developing hypertension is a compensatory mechanism for a primary intrarenal defect is discussed.


1977 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. H. Snow ◽  
D. A. Piercy ◽  
Valerie Robson ◽  
R. Wilkinson

1. In 29 patients with acromegaly, plasma renin activity and growth hormone were measured during fasting and recumbency on free diet. Exchangeable sodium was measured in all cases and expressed as a percentage of the expected value on the basis of lean body mass. 2. Twenty-two control subjects without evidence of cardiovascular, renal or endocrine disease were studied in the same way. 3. There was a significant increase in exchangeable sodium and suppression of plasma renin activity in the acromegalic patients in comparison with control subjects. 4. There was a significant positive correlation between exchangeable sodium and plasma growth hormone. 5. Hypertensive acromegalic patients (diastolic blood pressure ≥ 100 mmHg) tend to have a lower (although not significantly so) exchangeable sodium than normotensive subjects. 6. We conclude that (a) suppression of plasma renin activity in acromegaly can be explained by sodium retention, (b) hypersecretion of growth hormone is probably responsible for the increased exchangeable sodium, and (c) sodium overload cannot be directly related to blood pressure but may contribute to the increased occurrence of hypertension in acromegaly.


1978 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Van Hoogdalem ◽  
A. J. M. Donker ◽  
F. H. H. Leenen

1. Angiotensin II blockade before and after marked sodium depletion in patients with hypertension [unilateral renovascular (eight), bilateral renovascular (four) and essential (four)] was performed by intravenous administration of the angiotensin II antagonist Sar1-Ala8-angiotensin II (saralasin). 2. On normal sodium intake, saralasin decreased mean blood pressure by 8 mmHg in the unilateral renovascular group, by 6 mmHg in the bilateral renovascular group and increased it by 3 mmHg in the essential hypertensive group. After sodium depletion saralasin decreased mean blood pressure by 33 mmHg, 35 mmHg and 18 mmHg respectively. The saralasin-induced decrease in blood pressure significantly correlated with the log of the initial plasma renin activity. 3. Saralasin infusion decreased effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) in all three hypertension subgroups, both on normal sodium intake and after sodium depletion. Glomerular filtration rate decreased in direct relation to the hypotensive effect of saralasin but ERPF showed this relationship only after sodium depletion. On normal sodium intake saralasin increased filtration fraction by 17%, but decreased it by 7% after sodium depletion. 4. It is concluded that the hypotensive action of saralasin closely correlates with the value of circulating plasma renin activity, apparently independent of the aetiology of the hypertension. The decrease in ERPF during saralasin infusion in the patients on normal sodium intake seems mainly related to the agonistic activity of saralasin, but that after sodium depletion to the hypotensive effect of saralasin.


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