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Hypertension, Vol 14, 164-169, Copyright © 1989 by American Heart Association

ARTICLES

Effect of plasma sodium on aldosterone secretion during angiotensin II stimulation in normal humans

DC Merrill, TJ Ebert, MM Skelton and AW Cowley Jr
Department of Physiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 53226.

Studies were carried out in normal male subjects (n = 6, age 20-35 years) to determine the interaction of angiotensin II and plasma sodium on aldosterone secretion. These relations were quantified by elevation of plasma sodium with an infusion of 5% sodium chloride (4 ml/kg/30 min i.v.) with measurements of plasma aldosterone, atrial natriuretic factor (ANF), and arginine vasopressin (AVP) over 3 hours. Two hours before sodium chloride infusion, an intravenous infusion of angiotensin II was begun at 0.5 or 5.0 ng/kg/min and continued throughout the study. Plasma potassium was maintained constant by the addition of potassium to the infusate. NaCl/KCl infusion raised plasma sodium 4 meq/l with no decreases of plasma potassium. Plasma aldosterone averaged 7 +/- 1.8 ng/dl before NaCl infusion in subjects infused with 0.5 ng angiotensin II and was not significantly reduced with sodium chloride infusion. Angiotensin II infused at 5 ng/kg/min resulted in average plasma aldosterone levels of 31 +/- 3.6 ng/dl, which sodium chloride infusion decreased to 16.6 +/- 1.3 ng/dl (p less than 0.05) in 60 minutes. Plasma aldosterone remained depressed for the remaining period of study. Plasma ANF increased from 40 to 60 pg/ml with sodium chloride infusion. We conclude that small physiological elevations of plasma sodium concentrations can signal substantial decreases of plasma aldosterone in normal human subjects in situations where plasma angiotensin II is moderately elevated. The precise mechanisms of these responses remain to be determined.