Increased Sensitivity to Corticosterone as a Possible Factor in the Development of Adrenal Regeneration Hypertension

IN .1955' it was reported that uninephrectomized, young female rats, given access to 1 per cent sodium chloride solution to drink, developed hypertensive vascular disease during regeneration of the adrenal cortex. Because of the concurrence between blood pressure rise and adrenal regeneration, a working hypothesis was suggested which held that rebound hyperfunction of the regenerated cortex might be the cause of the hypertensive disease. However, it is well known that a period of cortical insufficiency intervenes between enucleation and regeneration of the adrenal cortex, and that increased sensitivity to the hypertensive properties of desoxycortieosterone accompanies Addison's disease in man. These facts and the lack of evidence for oversecretion of any known steroid by the regenerating gland prompted the suggestion' that the period of cortical insufficiency might sensitize to the hypertensive property of steroids secreted by the regenerating gland in normal or even subnormal amounts.