The significance of body sodium content in hypertension following renal transplantation: exchangeable sodium and plasma renin concentration before and after renal transplantation

Post-renal-transplant hypertension. Urine volume, free water clearance and plasma concentrations of arginine vasopressin, angiotensin II and aldosterone before and after oral water loading in hypertensive and normotensive renal transplant recipients

Urine volume (V), free water clearance (CH2O) and plasma concentrations of arginine vasopressin (AVP), angiotensin II (A II) and aldosterone (Aldo) were determined before and three times during the first 5 h after an oral water load of 20 ml/kg body wt in 19 patients with post-renal-transplant hypertension (group I), in 13 normotensive renal transplant recipients (group II) and in 20 control subjects (group III). Both V and CH2O increased significantly in all groups, but considerably less in groups I and II than in group III. When CH2O was related to glomerular filtration rate no differences existed between patients and control subjects. Basal AVP was the same in groups I (3.3 pmol/l, median) and II (3.0 pmol/l), but significantly (p less than 0.01) higher than in group III (1.9 pmol/l). Basal A II was significantly (p less than 0.01) elevated in group I (18 pmol/l) when compared to both groups II (10 pmol/l) and III (11 pmol/l), and the level was independent of the presence of native kidneys. Basal Aldo was the same in all groups. During loading, AVP was reduced in all groups, A II was almost unchanged, and Aldo was increased in groups I and II and reduced in group III depending on alterations in serum potassium. Thus urinary diluting ability is reduced in renal transplant recipients due to a reduced glomerular filtration rate. The enhanced A II in hypertensive renal transplant recipients gives further evidence for the point of view that hypertension is angiotensin-dependent in most of these patients.

Hypertension and kidney transplantation

Patients with kidney transplants are often hypertensive. Investigators have described the characteristics of this hypertension in man. Moreover, the hypertension of kidney transplant patients has a higher probability of being responsive to surgical intervention than does hypertension in the general population. Yet the mechanisms of the many varieties of posttransplantation hypertension are not known in detail. Detailed studies that would best be done in animal models are rare. Both medical and surgical management of this transplantation-associated complication needs further study.

Parathyroid hormone: a determinant of posttransplant blood pressure regulation

Persistent hyperparathyroidism and its attendant hypercalcemia have been implicates as possible etiologic factors in posttransplant hypertension. To better define the role of parathyroid hormone (PTH) and calcium in posttransplant blood pressure homeostasis, we measured the acute response of blood pressure, ionized calcium (Ca++), plasma renin activity (PRA), and parathyroid hormone (PTH) to a 4-hr infusion of calcium (15 mg/kg) and an isoproterenol injection (0.15 mg SC) in seven normal subjects and 13 renal transplant (Tx) recipients with stable graft function and persistent hyperparathyroidism. Transient hypercalcemia produced a significant (p less than 0.01) increase in the systolic blood pressure (delta SBP) and suppression of PTH (p less than 0.001) in the posttransplant subjects. There was a significant (p less than 0.02) inverse correlation between changes (delta) in PTH and delta SBP in these subjects. There was no correlation between the delta SBP and either the change in Ca++ (delta Ca++) or the change in PRA (delta PRA) observed in the Tx recipients administered calcium. Following isoproterenol administration, SBP increased (p less than 0.01), PTH fell (p less than 0.05) and Ca++ was only minimally increased in the Tx recipients. A virtually identical, significant (p less than 0.05) inverse correlation existed between the delta PTH and delta SBP observed in the transplant subjects. Greater suppression of PTH was associated with a larger increase in systolic blood pressure. Transient hypercalcemia of comparable degree in normal subjects caused an insignificant increase in their blood pressure. The fact that PTH suppression in the normals was substantially (0.01) less (delta PTH -13 microliter/Eq/ml versus -65 microliter/Eq/ml in the transplant group) with a similar increase in serum calcium suggests that the blood pressure response to transient hypercalcemia is more dependent on PTH suppression than the level of ionized calcium. Plasma renin activity was unchanged during the blood pressure fluctuations induced by either the calcium or the isoproterenol administration to the normal subjects. Under the conditions of this study, endogenous parathyroid hormone has the characteristics of a vasodepressor hormone and may have a role in blood pressure regulation in transplant recipients with hyperparathyroidism. Since the vasodepressor effect can be dissociated from delta Ca+ and delta PRA, such a conclusion seems warranted. The implications of these findings for all subjects with renal disease requires further investigation.