[Guanylins--a potential new approach in research on postprandial natriuresis]

More than 20% of adults in industrialized countries display arterial pressure outside the normal physiological range. For most individuals, the molecular basis of hypertension remains unknown. In some hypertensive persons, a postprandial natriuretic response, normally elicited by a salty meal, is diminished and contributes to body sodium accumulation and plasma volume expansion. An important physiological mechanism ensuring the increased salt excretion following ingestion of salt is based on a luminocrine and endocrine secretion of novel small intestinal peptides--guanylins. Membrane guanylate cyclase receptors mediate effects of these peptides that provide a novel link between the intestine and kidney by means of circulating molecular guanylin forms. It can be expected that the emergence of the novel guanylin signaling pathways will energize search for molecular defects causing hypertension.