[Hypertensive disease as membrane pathology]

A hypothesis is presented that suggests that essential hypertension and its analog -- spontaneous hypertension in rats originates from a genetically determined defect of the permeability of the cell membranes. An increasing permeability of the membranes for potassium and sodium may serve as a common cause of activation of the servomechanisms that provide for the elevation of the arterial blood pressure. A chronic psychoemotional stress, salt or corticosteroid overloading are the conditions that display a latent membranous insufficiency.