[The interrelation of the sodium-excretory function of the kidneys and vascular reactivity in hypertension patients].

Vascular reactivity was evaluated by a modified photoplethysmographic method in 20 patients with essential hypertension before and after an acute volumetric salt load. A relationship was demonstrated between vascular reactivity and renal sodium excretion pattern under stress. Patients with "excessive" natriuresis 24 h after the test showed reduced vascular reactivity, and slow sodium and water excretion was associated with increased vascular response.

[Concentration of adrenocorticotrophic hormone and aldosterone secretion in essential hypertension and hyperaldosteronism].

The authors studied the effect of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), potassium and plasma renin activity on blood aldosterone in normal subjects as well as in patients with essential hypertension (of a labile and stable course) and hyperaldosteronism (primary and idiopathic). It was demonstrated that in normal subjects and patients with labile essential hypertension, the secretion of aldosterone was simultaneously stimulated by the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and the hypothalamus-adenopituitary. The RAS dominated in normal conditions whereas in labile hypertension the hypothalamus-adenopituitary system was predominant.

[Adrenocorticotropic hormone in hypertension].

The corticotropic function of the adenohypophysis was investigated in patients with essential hypertension considering the stage of the disease and development of crisis. There was found functional activation of the system under study at the labile stage of essential hypertension without crisis as well as in patients with crisis at labile and stable stages of the disease. Unidirectional shifts were observed in the function of the vasopressor part of the hypothalamus-neurohypophyseal system.

Blood antidiuretic activity and selected haemodynamic indicators in patients with essential hypertension.

In patients with essential hypertension the blood antidiuretic activity was studied in relation to the haemodynamics. It was found that the blood antidiuretic activity increased in parallel with the rise in the total peripheral resistance, and with the decreases in the blood and plasma volumes, stroke volume, and end-diastolic heart volume. The role of antidiuretic hormone in the regulation of haemodynamics in hypertensive patients is discussed.

[Changes in the antidiuretic activity of the blood in hypertensive crises and experimental arterial hypertension of hypothalamic origin].

The blood antidiuretic activity was studied in patients with hypertensive disease in a period between crises and during a hypertensive crisis. The antidiuretic activity of blood was found to be higher in patients who had crises than in those with no history of crises. Blood antidiuretic activity diminishes during a hypertensive crisis, which is evidently due to the inhibiting effect on the hypothalamus of the receptors of the cardiovascular system.

[Certain aspects of the pathogenesis and prophylactic treatment of hypertensive crises].

The paper analyses the results of a study of the clinical peculiarities of the course of essential hypertension with crises, of the changes in the functional state of the central nervous system, and of some neuro-humoral systems of the human body. In most of the patients tending to develope frequent crises distinct changes were noted in the EEG that indicate dysfunction of the hypothalamic zone and of the reticular formation of the brain stem, their clinical course being characterized by significant astheno-neurotic disorders with autonomous dysfunction and cerebral angiodistonic disturbances. For the prevention of crises it is essential to conduct a pathogenetically substantiated and highly differentiated systematic therapy, as well as special measures aimed at increasing the endurance of the central nervous system, improving the circulation and metabolic processes in the brain, decreasing tnd hypothalamic structures of the brain, and correcting the dishormonal disorders.