The Immediate Pressor Response to Saralasin in Man: Evidence against Sympathetic Activation and for Intrinsic Angiotensin II-Like Myotropism

1984 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 517-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Mathias ◽  
R. J. Unwin ◽  
F. A. Pike ◽  
H. L. Frankel ◽  
P. S. Sever ◽  
...  

1. The cardiovascular and hormonal effects of intravenous saralasin (0.5, 1 and 5 μg min−1 kg−1) were assessed in nine tetraplegic patients (with complete cervical spinal cord transaction above the sympathetic outflow) and in six normal subjects. 2. In the tetraplegic patients, saralasin caused an immediate transient pressor response which was not dose-dependent and substantially greater than the pressor response in normal subjects. The pressor response in the tetraplegic patients was not accompanied by a rise in levels of plasma noradrenaline. 3. In the tetraplegic patients, after α-adrenoceptor blockade with thymoxamine (1 mg kg−1 h−1), twice the dose of intravenous noradrenaline was needed to induce the same pressor response. The pressor response to saralasin (5 μg kg−1 min−1), however, was unaffected by thymoxamine. 4. Saralasin caused minimal changes in levels of plasma renin activity and plasma aldosterone in both groups. There was no relationship between basal plasma renin activity and the pressor response in either group. 5. We therefore conclude that the immediate transient pressor response to saralasin in man is not due to central sympathetic stimulation, is unlikely to be due to peripheral sympathetic activation and is probably the result of intrinsic angiotensin II-like myotropism.

1974 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Deheneffe ◽  
A. Bernard

1. When angiotensin II was infused into forty unselected subjects a linear relationship was found between the increment of diastolic blood pressure and the logarithm of the rate of infusion of angiotensin II. 2. The slope of this line was very reproducible on repeated determinations in the same subject. 3. When the correlations between pre-infusion plasma renin activity and various functions derived from dose—response curves were determined, it was observed that: (i) the significance of the correlation became progressively stronger when increasing thresholds of the pressor response to angiotensin II were considered; (ii) the best correlation was achieved when the slopes of the individual dose—response curves were plotted against the logarithm of corresponding plasma renin activities. 4. These results suggest that the slope of the pressor dose—response curve is the most reliable index of responsiveness to intravenously infused angiotensin II and that it may provide a satisfactory guide to the basal plasma renin activity.


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.


1981 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. M. Frier ◽  
R. J. M. Corrall ◽  
J. L. Pritchard ◽  
P. S. Sever

1. The changes in blood glucose, plasma noradrenaline and plasma renin activity were measured in 11 normal subjects and in six tetraplegic subjects with a transection of the cervical spinal cord (preganglionic sympathectomy), in response to acute insulin-induced hypoglycaemia (0.15 unit/kg). 2. After hypoglycaemia, a pronounced rise in plasma noradrenaline was observed in the normal subjects but was absent in the tetraplegic group; plasma renin activity increased markedly in both groups. 3. It is concluded that the stimulation of renin release in response to hypoglycaemia can occur independently of any activation of the sympatho-adrenal system.


1980 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 552-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryoyu Takeda ◽  
Shinpei Morimoto ◽  
Kenzo Uchida ◽  
Isamu Miyamori ◽  
Tetsuji Hashiba

Abstract. The plasma aldosterone response to angiotensin II (10 ng/kg/min for 30 min, iv) under conditions of varied sodium intake was studied in 10 young subjects (20 to 35 years), 9 middle-aged (41 to 56 years) and 11 elderly (66 to 73 years) normotensive subjects. Basal plasma renin activity, basal plasma level and urinary excretion of aldosterone were significantly lower in the elderly than in the young and middle-aged groups on both 130 and 25 mEq sodium intakes. When sodium intake was reduced to 25 mEq for 3 days, the weight loss was significantly greater in the elderly than in the young and middle-aged groups. No significant differences in blood pressure and serum electrolytes were found between the three groups. Angiotensin II infusion caused significant increases in the mean blood pressure in all the three groups, but to a greater extent in the elderly group. Plasma aldosterone level and its absolute increment, but not its per cent increment, after angiotensin II infusion were significantly lower in the elderly than in the young and middle-aged groups. In combined young, middleaged and elderly subjects, the absolute plasma aldosterone increment correlated positively with basal plasma aldosterone and plasma renin activity levels on a 25 mEq sodium intake, and with plasma renin response to sodium restriction. These results suggest that ageing may cause a lesser plasma aldosterone response to angiotensin II with a decrease in basal plasma aldosterone, in parallel with a decrease in plasma renin activity, under condition of low sodium diet.


1975 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 291-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Mathias ◽  
N. J. Christensen ◽  
J. L. Corbett ◽  
H. L. Frankel ◽  
T. J. Goodwins ◽  
...  

1. Plasma catecholamines, plasma renin activity, plasma aldosterone and haematocrit were measured in four subjects with physiologically complete cervical spinal cord transections, before, during and after head-up tilt to 45° for 30 min. Plasma catecholamines were measured in five normal male volunteers in the supine position and after head-up tilt to 45° for 10 min. 2. After 10 min of head-up tilt, the plasma noradrenaline rose 14% in the tetraplegic patients and 115% in the control subjects. These findings indicate a failure of sympathetic activity in response to head-up tilt in the tetraplegic patients, probably caused by interruption of pathways by which the brain normally controls sympathetic outflow. 3. In the tetraplegic patients the resting plasma renin activities were above normal, and rose more quickly and greater on head-up tilt than in published studies of normal subjects. It is likely that the renal baroreceptors are important in the control of renin release. 4. In the tetraplegic patients, there was a late rise in plasma aldosterone which was probably due to the elevation in plasma renin activity.


1971 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-173
Author(s):  
A. Peytremann ◽  
R. Veyrat ◽  
A. F. Muller

ABSTRACT Variations in plasma renin activity and urinary aldosterone excretion were studied in normal subjects submitted to salt restriction and simultaneous inhibition of ACTH production with a new synthetic steroid, 6-dehydro-16-methylene hydrocortisone (STC 407). At a dose of 10 mg t. i. d. this preparation exerts an inhibitory effect on the pituitary comparable to that of 2 mg of dexamethasone. In subjects maintained on a restricted salt intake, STC 407 does not delay the establishment of an equilibrium in sodium balance. The increases in endogenous aldosterone production and in plasma renin activity are also similar to those seen in the control subjects. A possible mineralocorticoid effect of STC 407 can be excluded. Under identical experimental conditions, the administration of dexamethasone yielded results comparable to those obtained with STC 407.


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