STUDIES ON ALDOSTERONE: II. HYPERTENSION AS A CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF ALDOSTERONE ADMINISTRATION

Abstract

Aldosterone has been injected subcutaneously into young rats in doses of 0.5 μg. per 48 hours and later 1.0 μg. per 24 hours. After 6–12 weeks a rise in blood pressure was noted which in about 5 or 6 months reached a maximum averaging 75 mm. above control values. This effect was noted in intact animals on a normal diet and was the same for either dose employed. The drinking of 1% saline instead of water had no significant effect on the result. In adrenalectomized rats a similar rise was noted and may have occurred sooner, but this observation requires confirmation. Aldosterone can account for at least part of the syndrome resulting from regeneration of cortical tissue in an enucleated adrenal. Desoxycorticosterone was tested in intact rats at dose levels of 25 μg. per 48 hours or 100 μg. daily and produced a smaller rise in blood pressure than that observed with aldosterone. None of the adrenalectomized rats showed protein in the urine, but one in five of the intact animals developed moderate to marked proteinuria after 1 to 5 months of hypertension. It is suggested that these observations may represent the experimental counterpart of human essential hypertension.