Twenty-six essential hypertensive patients were entered into a protocol to assess the blood pressure and renal effects of the dihydropyridine calcium antagonist nifedipine (30-120 mg/day given in divided doses) administered for 4 weeks. Nifedipine monotherapy effectively lowered blood pressure in 73% of the patients. Glomerular filtration rate and effective renal plasma flow were increased 13.3...

The mechanism of activation of inactive renin was studied in normal human plasma. The molecular weight of active renin and those of inactive renin before and after activation were analyzed by sephadex gel filtration. Active renin of human plasma had a molecular weight of 48,000 +/- 1000. Trypsin treatment and cold treatment activated inactive renin of a molecular weight of 54,000 +/- 1000. The ...

The renal hemodynamic response to pressor substances in the diseased kidney has been suggested to be different from that in the normal kidney. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of endothelin and angiotensin II on renal hemodynamics in experimental nephritis induced by the administration of antithymocyte serum in Wistar rats. This model showed mesangiolytic lesions in the glom...

During the administration ofsalyrgant (sodium salt of mercury salicyl-allylamide-ortho-acetate) to dogs, it was observed that the rate of potassium excretion frequently became constant and remained at a fixed level despite marked changes in the calculated rate ofpotassium filtration at the glomerulus. A constant excretory rate dissociated from filtered load is strongly suggestive of a tubular s...

Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) remains a significant cause of transfusion-related mortality with red cell transfusion. We hypothesize that prestorage filtration may reduce proinflammatory activity in the red blood cell (RBC) supernatant and prevent TRALI. Filters were manufactured for both small volumes and RBC units. Plasma containing antibodies to human lymphocyte antigen (HLA)...

This study was performed to test the hypothesis that the kidneys play a primary role in the clearance of endogenous leptin from the circulation. Lean male Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized and subjected to various surgical manipulations of the kidneys. Sixty minutes after surgery arterial blood samples were taken at 1-h intervals for up to 8 h. Plasma leptin levels were determined by radioi...

BACKGROUND As RNA is labile, we investigated whether circulating RNA in human plasma may be present in a particle-associated form. METHODS Blood was collected from 27 healthy individuals and 16 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. The plasma from each individual was processed by two means: filtration through filters with different pore sizes (from 5 microm to 0.22 microm) and ultracentrif...

It has been suggested that in two-kidney, one clip hypertension, the undamped kidney (UK) actively contributes to hypertension by reducing its excretory ability in response to increased levels of Circulating angiotensin II. By exteriorizing the ureter to the dog's flank several weeks beforehand, we measured renal function directly from the UK of six chrogic renal hypertensive (> 3 weeks) and si...