Evaluation of an Aldosterone Radioimmunoassay: The Renin—Angiotensin—Aldosterone Axis as a Function of Sex and Age

Abstract

A highly specific radioimmunoassay for aldosterone in plasma has been developed utilising extraction from plasma into dichloromethane, an antiserum raised to aldosterone-3-carboxy-methyloxime-BSA and a radio-iodinated derivative of aldosterone. The plasma values obtained after only extraction correlated very well with the results following chromatography over celite. The within- and between-batch variations for plasma pools ranged between 5 and 15%. The range obtained, 100–1806 pmol/L for 96 random upright subjects, was comparable to others reported. Measurement of plasma aldosterone and plasma renin activity in these subjects showed that both these parameters are higher in subjects under 40 years of age than in those over 40. In addition, plasma aldosterone levels are higher in women than in men even though their plasma renin activity levels are similar. The plasma aldosterone/renin activity ratios which provide an index of adrenal sensitivity to stimulation, are lower in men than in women. The findings in this study suggest that higher aldosterone levels in younger subjects are associated with greater stimulation of the adrenals than in older subjects and that the adrenal is more sensitive in women than in men.