FACTORS RELATING TO ALDOSTERONE SECRETION RATE, THE EXCRETION OF ALDOSTERONE 18-GLUCURONIDE, AND THE PLASMA ALDOSTERONE CONCENTRATION IN CIRRHOSIS

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In a group of eight patients with cirrhosis the rate of renal excretion of the 18‐glucuronide metabolite of aldosterone (UAldoV) was found to be closely related to the aldosterone secretion rate (ASR). UAldoV was therefore used as an index of ASR in a further group of fifty patients in order to evaluate the possible importance of factors known to regulate aldosterone secretion. UAldoV showed statistically significant relationships to both plasma renin activity (PRA) and the plasma sodium concentration (PNa), but not to the plasma potassium concentration (PK) or the renal excretion of cortisol (UCortV), the latter used as an index of adrencorticotrophic hormone activity. The plasma aldosterone concentration (PAido) was determined in fifty‐eight patients and also found to show statistically significant relationships to PRA and PNa. PAldo showed a weak, though statistically significant, relationship to PK, but not to UCortV. These findings are in keeping with a role for the renin‐angiotensin system in the control of aldosterone secretion in cirrhosis although evidence from other studies suggest other factors to be involved also. Whether PNa was another determinant of ASR, or whether aldosterone was a determinant of PNa through regulating sodium reabsorption by the proximal tubule of the nephron, is uncertain.