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(Hypertension. 1996;27:197-201.)
© 1996 American Heart Association, Inc.
Articles |
From the Second Department of Internal Medicine (Y.T., I.M., K.I., S.I., K.F., H.H., T.Y., R.T.) and Department of Health Sciences (Y.T.), School of Medicine, Kanazawa (Japan) University.
Correspondence to Yoshiyu Takeda, MD, Second Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa 920, Japan.
| Abstract |
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Key Words: hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase adrenal cortex hormones renin kidney
| Introduction |
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Biochemical studies have revealed the existence of two isoforms of 11ß-HSD, NAD+ dependent and NADP+ dependent.8 In 1992, Morris et al9 reported the excretion of the endogenous inhibitors of 11ß-HSD in human urine. They referred to these inhibitors as GALFs. Walker et al10 11 reported these endogenous hepatic 11ß-HSD inhibitors (ie, NADP+-dependent) to be unlikely contributors to the pathogenesis of hypertension. The renal 11ß-HSD (ie, NAD+-dependent isoform) is thought to be responsible for protecting the renal mineralocorticoid receptors from cortisol.12
A possible mechanism of low-renin hypertension is volume expansion with or without mineralocorticoid excess.13 However, previous studies failed to indicate volume expansion14 or an increased level of mineralocorticoids.15 To determine whether endogenous renal 11ß-HSD inhibitory factors may be involved in the pathophysiology of low-renin essential hypertension, we studied the urinary excretion of such inhibitors in patients with low-renin essential hypertension and compared the results with the effects of sodium restriction on the urinary excretion of endogenous renal 11ß-HSD inhibitory factors in normotensive subjects.
| Methods |
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Protocol 2
Six normotensive Japanese men (42 to 52 years old)
were admitted
to the Kanazawa University Hospital for study of the effect of sodium
restriction on urinary excretion of renal 11ß-HSD
inhibitory factor or factors. They received a normal diet
containing 180 mmol sodium and 60 mmol potassium for 7 days, followed
by 4 days of an isocaloric diet restricted to 50 mmol sodium and 60
mmol potassium. Urine samples were collected daily. Specimens used for
steroid measurement were collected on the 7th day of the normal sodium
diet and on the 4th day of the low sodium diet. Plasma samples were
taken on the morning of the day of urine collection.
Informed consent was obtained from all subjects. The protocol was approved by the Human Research Committee of the Kanazawa University School of Medicine.
Steroid Measurements
The 24-hour urinary excretion of
aldosterone was
measured by radioimmunoassay after hydrolysis at pH 1 for 24
hours.17 Urinary 18-hydroxycorticosterone and free
cortisol were measured by radioimmunoassay after HPLC purification of
urine extracts as described previously.18 19 Plasma
renin
activity and plasma aldosterone were measured by
radioimmunoassay, as previously described.20 Urinary THE,
THF, and allo-THF were measured with gas
chromatography/mass spectrometry as previously
described.21 Urinary electrolytes were measured by flame
photometry.
Measurements of Urinary Endogenous Renal 11ß-HSD
Inhibitory Factor or Factors
Urine Samples
A volume of 5
to 10 mL urine was passed through a prewashed (5
mL methanol, 10 mL water) Sep-Pak C18 cartridge (Waters) washed with 10
mL water and was eluted with 5 mL methanol. The methanol eluates were
evaporated to dryness under nitrogen gas and then redissolved in 1 mL
distilled water.
HPLC Purification of Urine Samples
For determination of the retention time of renal 11ß-HSD
inhibitory factor or factors, urine extracts were diluted
with methanol to a final concentration of 30% methanol and
chromatographed on a C18 Ultrasphere ODS column (5 µm,
Beckman Instruments). Components were eluted with a methanol gradient
beginning with 30% aqueous methanol that increased linearly to 100%
methanol by 60 minutes at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. Each fraction was
evaporated under nitrogen gas and assayed for inhibitory
activity in renal 11ß-HSD radioenzymatic assays. Urine extracts from
patients and normotensive control subjects were purified with the HPLC
system mentioned above, and fractions corresponding to the retention
time of renal 11ß-HSD inhibitory factor were collected,
evaporated under nitrogen gas, and measured for renal 11ß-HSD
inhibitory activity.
Assay of Renal 11ß-HSD Inhibitory
Activity
The radioenzymatic assay of renal 11ß-HSD
inhibitory activity was performed by measuring the
conversion of [3H]cortisol (specific activity, 83 Ci/mol;
Amersham Japan) to [3H]cortisone with the method
described by Morris et al9 with minor modifications.
Human kidney microsomes (0.14 mg protein) were incubated at 37°C for 10 minutes with 5 µmol/L cortisol and [3H]cortisol (1 µCi) as tracer in 50 mL Tris-HCl buffer (pH 8.5) containing 400 µmol/L NAD+ in a total volume of 0.25 mL, as previously described.22 Included in this volume was an aliquot of water (control), HPLC-purified urine samples, or GA. The reaction was terminated by addition of 4 mL ethyl acetate. Ethyl acetate extracts of the incubation media were evaporated to dryness under nitrogen gas, dissolved in 40% methanol, and chromatographed on a reversed-phase column with a solvent system (water/methanol/tetrahydrofuran, 52:40:8, vol/vol/vol) at a flow rate of 1.5 mL/min. The retention times of cortisol and cortisone were 24 and 19 minutes, respectively. The eluted fractions corresponding to cortisol and cortisone were collected by a fraction collector. Tritium-labeled steroids were counted in a liquid scintillation counter, and the percentage of conversion of cortisol to cortisone was calculated.
To provide a basis for measurement of the inhibitory activity of renal 11ß-HSD present in urine, aliquots of GA were added to the control inhibition mixtures in varying amounts (0 to 100 pmol). The percent inhibition was calculated relative to that of control (without GA) as previously described.9 Briefly, the percent inhibition owing to the urine extract was converted to picomoles of GA (GA equivalence units) with the appropriate GA standard curve. The variation of recovery and inter-array and intra-assay coefficients of variation of the assay were estimated with the use of known concentrations of urinary renal 11ß-HSD inhibitory factor or factors. A portion of normal kidney was obtained from a patient suffering from small renal cancer for use in the assay.
Statistics
Data are presented as mean±SEM.
Hypertensive and
control groups were compared by two-tailed unpaired Student's
t tests. Wilcoxon's t test was used for
paired data. Partial coefficients of correlation were calculated
between the urinary excretion of the 11ß-HSD inhibitory
factor(s), ratio of urinary THF+allo-THF to THE, and urinary excretion
of sodium. A value of P<.05 was accepted as statistically
significant.
| Results |
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- and
11ß-hydroxyprogesterone were eluted at higher
concentrations of methanol compared with the 11ß-HSD
inhibitory activity peak.
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As shown in Table 1
, plasma levels and the urinary
excretion of aldosterone and free cortisol as well as the
(THF+allo-THF)/THE ratio did not differ significantly between the
patients with low-renin essential hypertension and normotensive
control subjects. Serum potassium concentration did not differ in the
two groups, but the ratio of urinary sodium to potassium tended to be
decreased in the low-renin essential hypertensive group. Urinary
excretion of endogenous renal 11ß-HSD
inhibitory factor(s) was significantly increased in
patients with low-renin essential hypertension (1280±88 nmol/d)
compared with normotensive control subjects (704±56 nmol/d,
P<.05) (Fig 2
). The urinary excretion of the
inhibitory factor(s) was positively correlated with the
urinary excretion of sodium (r=.54, P<.05) in
all subjects. There was no significant correlation between the
endogenous renal 11ß-HSD inhibitory factor(s)
and the (THF+allo-THF)/THE ratio (data not shown).
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The restricted sodium diet given to the six normotensive subjects for 4
days produced a significant increase in plasma renin activity and
plasma aldosterone concentration (both P<.05)
(Table 2
). Data showed that urinary free cortisol and
the (THF+allo-THF)/THE ratio did not differ in subjects on the normal
versus the low sodium diet. The urinary endogenous renal
11ß-HSD inhibitory factor during the normal sodium diet
was 738±95 nmol/d; after sodium restriction, the value decreased
significantly to 432±51 nmol/d (P<.05) (Fig
3
).
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| Discussion |
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The etiology of low-renin essential hypertension is unknown. Dahl salt-sensitive hypertensive rats show lower renin levels in the plasma, kidney, and adrenals than do Dahl salt-resistant rats.25 26 We previously reported that the activity of 11ß-HSD is decreased in Dahl salt-sensitive hypertensive compared with Dahl salt-resistant rats.27
The excretion of endogenous 11ß-HSD inhibitory factor or factors has been reported in human urine. GA, the active agent in licorice root, markedly inhibits 11ß-HSD when incubated with this enzyme. Morris et al9 quantified this 11ß-HSD inhibitory factor (GALFs) using rat liver microsome and reported its increased excretion in pregnancy. Walker et al10 reported that GALFs had no diurnal rhythm and were unaffected by dexamethasone treatment in patients with low ACTH or with ectopic ACTH secretion. They also reported that in hypertensive patients associated with impaired 11ß-HSD activity, GALFs did not correlate with blood pressure and therefore concluded that GALFs were unlikely to play a role in the pathophysiology of hypertension.11
The type 2 isoform of 11ß-HSD is thought to be responsible for
protecting the renal mineralocorticoid receptors from cortisol and for
contributing to the classic syndrome of apparent mineralocorticoid
excess.12 Mutations in the gene for the kidney isozyme of
11ß-HSD recently were found in patients with apparent
mineralocorticoid excess.28 29 We used urine extracts
to
inhibit NAD+-dependent 11ß-dehydrogenase activity
(type 2 isoform) in homogenized human kidney (ie, renal
11ß-HSD inhibitory factor). In our study, the
endogenous renal 11ß-HSD inhibitory factor
was significantly increased in patients with low-renin essential
hypertension compared with control subjects. There were no significant
differences in the urinary (THF+allo-THF)/THE ratio between the two
groups. Plasma and urinary aldosterone levels were not
elevated in the low-renin essential hypertensive group. Although
the serum potassium concentration did not differ in the two groups, the
ratio of urinary sodium to potassium tended to be decreased in the
group with low-renin essential hypertension. These findings suggest
that the endogenous renal 11ß-HSD inhibitory
factor may contribute to the pathogenesis of low-renin essential
hypertension by modulating type 2 11ß-HSD activity. Soro et
al30 reported that the ratio of THF+allo-THF to THE was
higher in subjects with untreated essential hypertension than in
control subjects. However, they did not measure urinary sodium
excretion. Walker et al5 and Iki et al21
found no differences in the ratio of THF+allo-THF to THE between
hypertensive and normotensive subjects. Walker et al reported that
half-life periods of 11-[
-H3]cortisol were
prolonged in a subgroup of hypertensive patients, whose ratio of
THF+allo-THF to THE did not differ from that of normotensive subjects.
Therefore, the urinary metabolite ratio of THF+allo-THF to THE may not
be a sensitive marker of renal 11ß-HSD activity.
Our study showed a positive correlation between the urinary excretion of the endogenous renal 11ß-HSD inhibitory factor or factors and the urinary excretion of sodium. If the activity of renal 11ß-HSD was inhibited by these factors, the urinary excretion of sodium would be decreased because of a state of hypermineralocorticoidism in the kidney. The amount of sodium excreted daily in the urine is inversely related to the amount of aldosterone excreted; however, the correlation is not significant at aldosterone excretion levels less than 10 µg/d (normal level of aldosterone).31 Renal 11ß-HSD activity is influenced by factors such as insulin, ethanol, furosemide, and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors.32 33 34 Our protocol 2 in normotensive subjects showed that sodium restriction reduced the urinary excretion of the endogenous renal 11ß-HSD inhibitory factor or factors. The increase in angiotensin II produced by sodium restriction may not affect the endogenous renal 11ß-HSD inhibitory factor(s). Sodium may directly or indirectly influence the activity of 11ß-HSD by modulating the endogenous renal 11ß-HSD inhibitory factor(s). Data suggest that the elevation of endogenous renal 11ß-HSD inhibitory factor(s) observed in the hypertensive patients in the present study may have been a secondary effect of humoral factors. The chemical structure of the endogenous renal 11ß-HSD inhibitory factor or factors requires further study.
| Selected Abbreviations and Acronyms |
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Received July 11, 1995; first decision August 25, 1995; accepted October 27, 1995.
| References |
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