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Hypertension, Vol 8, 83-88, Copyright © 1986 by American Heart Association

ARTICLES

How does salt raise blood pressure? A hypothesis

H Gavras

Existing data in the literature indicate that alpha 2-adrenergic receptor agonists have a profound hypotensive action, that sodium attenuates the affinity of alpha 2-adrenergic receptors for agonists, that the location of these receptors in the central nervous system is mainly at the sites of cardiovascular regulation, and that these sites exert a constant tonic inhibition of sympathetic vasoconstrictor tone. This article proposes the theory that sodium exerts its hypertensive action by decreasing the state of affinity of the alpha 2-adrenergic receptors of the central nervous system for locally occurring agonist neurotransmitters, which results in disinhibition of sympathoinhibitory neurons and leads to the hyperadrenergic state characteristic of salt- induced hypertension.

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