[Severe essential arterial hypertension; the physiopathogenic role of the adrenal medulla. I. Population studies and experimental research].

The authors have carried out a populational study by performing psychomorphological and blood determinations, and have detected the presence of a chronic hyperactivity syndrome of the adrenals in 12,5 percent of the healthy young subjects engaged in various activities that they have investigated. In an experimental study the oxydative processes in the enzymatic cycle of Krebs were cut off by injecting the adrenal medullary area with a 40% solution of sodium salicylate, while the secretion of the adrenal cortex was maintained, as was demonstrated by the unaffected activity of the hexose monophosphate shunt in this tissue. The experimental results demonstrated that the adrenal medullary tissue represents a major pathogenetic link in the complex etiopathogeny of essential arterial hypertension, and this invalidates the role attributed by Volhard (in 1931) to the renal tissue, explaining the failure of haemodialysis, bilateral nephrectomy and kidney transplantation in preventing the recurrence of essential arterial hypertension.