RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PLASMA-RENIN ACTIVITY AND URINARY CATECHOLAMINES IN VARIOUS TYPES OF HYPERTENSION

  • 1 January 1976
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 67  (3) , 331-342
Abstract
The urinary excretion of free noradrenaline (NA), adrenaline (A), dopamine (DA), the DA/NA ratio in the urine and plasma renin activity (PRA) were investigated in 71 patients with different types of arterial hypertension. In spite of the fact that the mean values of excreted catecholamines, with the exception of pheochromocytoma, lie within the range of values found in healthy controls, certain differences were found in spectrum of excreted catecholamines. In patients with labile, malignant and renovascular hypertension and in pheochromocytoma the higher mean excretion of NA and the low DA/NA ratio was accompanied by the higher PRA in comparison with fixed benign essential hypertension. In hypertension with low PRA (essential hypertension with suppressed renin and Conn''s syndrome) a low excretion of NA and high DA/NA ratio were found. There was a significant, if not very close negative correlation between the PRA and DA/NA ratios both in the recumbent and upright positions. The rise of PRA on standing was followed by an increased excretion of NA while the excretion of DA did not change or decrease. The DA/NA ratio when standing showed a decreasing tendency compared with values when lying down. Application of the .beta.-blocker Inderal decreased the PRA and the blood pressure not only in juvenile hypertensive patients with hyperkinetic circulations but also in the early phases of renovascular hypertension. It appears that endogenous catecholamines, especially the ratio between the renin-inhibiting DA and the renin-stimulating NA, participate in the regulation of the secretion and plasma levels of renin not only in juvenile hypertensive patients with hyperkinetic circulations but also in other types of hypertension.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: