[Exercise hemodynamics and renin before and after acute beta block in patients with essential hypertension]

Hemodynamic and renin studies at rest and during graded upright ergometry were performed in 21 patients with essential hypertension before and after propranolol. Beta-adrenergic receptor blockade reduced exercise-stimulated cardiac and renin responses significantly more when compared with the corresponding effects at rest. Propranolol increased peripheral resistance at rest but not during exercise. The degree of the individual hemodynamic changes after propranolol correlated better with the corresponding control values than with age or renin. A direct relationship between the percent reduction of heart rate and renin responses after acute beta-blockade indicates a parallel suppression of cardiac and renal receptor functions.