From renin measurements made in blood collected simultaneously from renal veins, aorta and vena cava, an equation was developed for estimating renin secretion rates in patients with three renin subtypes of essential hypertension. From these data a second equation was derived for estimating differential renal plasma flow in patients with unequal kidney perfusion. The latter equation achieves maximum precision when there is no renin secretion from one side.Plasma renin activity was ...

We measured plasma prorenin and renin levels, renal renin mRNA, renal anti-renin and anti-prorenin-prosequence immunoreactivity, and blood pressure in maturing Brookhaven Dahl salt-sensitive (Dahl S) and salt-resistant (Dahl R) rats during 14 days of low (0%), medium (0.4%), or high 4%) NaCl diets. Blood pressure was higher in Dahl S rats and did not increase with high NaCl. Seven-week-old Dahl R rats had twofold and sixfold higher levels of plasma prorenin and renal prosequence ...

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the sensitivity, specificity, and clinical usefulness of renography performed in combination with captopril administration ("captopril renography") in diagnosing renal artery stenosis.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty-five patients with suspected renal artery stenosis underwent renography prior to performance of renal angiography. Renography was performed on two consecutive days using technetium-99m-diethylenetiamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) ...

Oversecretion of aldosterone is a consistent finding in the syndrome of malignant hypertension. Infusion of angiotensin has been consistently shown to induce an increased secretion of aldosterone by the adrenal cortex in normal human subjects. Because renal damage is so prominent in malignant hypertension, it seems possible that renin release and then aldosterone oversecretion by the adrenal cortex are involved in the pathogenesis of this disorder. These findings support the possibility ...

Auriculin is a potent vasoactive and natriuretic peptide that was recently isolated and purified from rat atrial tissue. Since this peptide could be of great importance for renal, cardiovascular, and volume homeostasis, its functional properties have been characterized in dogs. The effects of synthetic auriculin on renal function, mean blood pressure, plasma renin activity, renin secretory rate, and plasma aldosterone levels were determined. Auriculin was administered intravenously as a ...

The availability of specific inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin system has made it possible to evaluate precisely the contribution of this system to the maintenance of normal blood pressure and of various hypertensive situations encountered in animal models and in man. Furthermore, by combining the blockade of the renin system with accurate measurements of sodium balance, it is possible to expose and quantify latent or manifest abnormalities in renal sodium handling that operate ...

OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine whether growth influences the relation between left ventricular mass and body size and whether use of different body size indexes affects the ability of ventricular mass to predict complications of hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Allometric (or growth) signals between left ventricular mass and height have recently been reported to improve previous approaches for normalization of ventricular mass for body size.

METHODS: Residuals of left ventricular ...

We previously demonstrated an inactive form of renin, termed prorenin, in the plasma of normal, hypertensive and anephric patients. Prorenin activity can be determined in plasma from the total renin activity after activation, minus the prior endogenous plasma renin activity. In the present study, conditions for cryoactivation of prorenin have been defined. Plasma prorenin is slowly converted to active renin-like material at -5 degrees C at pH 7.4. Activation takes four days and does not ...

The antihypertensive effect of propranolol was evaluated in 96 patients with various forms of hypertension preclassified according to plasma renin activity considered in relation to urinary sodium excretion.In essential hypertension (no = 74) 74 percent of high-renin patients (14 of 19) exhibited striking blood pressure reductions and 66 percent of normal-renin patients (25 of 38) achieved diastolic pressures less than or equal to 95 mm Hg. In sharp contrast, propranolol was completely ...

The role of hormones that can influence renal tubular reabsorption of salt and water in congestive heart failure and other states of abnormal fluid retention has been discussed. Available evidence indicates that the antidiuretic hormone of the neurohypophysis plays a nonessential role in the pathogenesis of edema. Oversecretion of aldosterone can be an important, or even an essential, mechanism in the pathogenesis of certain states of edema, such as those of nephrosis and cirrhosis. ...

Inactive renin comprises well over half the total renin in normal human plasma. There is a direct relationship between active and inactive renin levels in normal and hypertensive populations, but the proportion of inactive renin varies inversely with the active renin level; as much as 98% of plasma renin is inactive in patients with low renin, whereas the proportion is consistently lower (usually 20-60%) in high-renin states. Two hypertensive patients with proven renin-secreting ...

The weak relation of systolic blood pressure to left ventricular mass in hypertensive patients is often interpreted as evidence of nonhemodynamic stimuli to muscle growth. To test the hypothesis that left ventricular chamber size, reflecting hemodynamic volume load and myocardial contractility, influences the development of left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertension, we studied actual and theoretic relations of left ventricular mass to left ventricular diastolic chamber volume, ...

The effect of potassium administration and of dietary potassium deprivation on plasma renin activity and aldosterone excretion has been studied in 10 normal subjects and in 12 hypertensive patients maintained on a constant dietary regimen. Potassium administration reduced plasma renin activity in 18 of 28 studies of both normal and hypertensive subjects. Suppression of renin often occurred despite sodium diuresis induced by potassium administration. The renin suppression was related to ...

BACKGROUND: The Valsartan Antihypertensive Long-term Use Evaluation (VALUE) trial was designed to test the hypothesis that for the same blood-pressure control, valsartan would reduce cardiac morbidity and mortality more than amlodipine in hypertensive patients at high cardiovascular risk.

METHODS: 15?245 patients, aged 50 years or older with treated or untreated hypertension and high risk of cardiac events participated in a randomised, double-blind, parallel-group comparison of therapy ...

Plasma prorenin is an inactive form of renin (EC 3.4.99.19) that can be converted to active renin in acid-treated plasma by an endogenous serine protease that is active at alkaline pH (alkaline phase activation). To identify this enzyme we first tested the ability of Hageman factor fragments, plasma kallikrein (EC 3.4.21.8), and plasmin (EC 3.4.21.7) to activate prorenin in acid-treated plasma. All three enzymes initiated prorenin activation; 50% activation was achieved with Hageman ...