[The role of plasma substance P and catecholamines in hypertension]

In the present study, the contents of plasma substance P (SP) and noradrenaline (NA) and adrenaline (AD) in human normotensive subjects and patients with essential hypertension as well as Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were measured. The results showed that: (1) The levels of plasma SP in both hypertensive subjects were lower than that in both normotensive subjects. (2) The concentration of plasma NA and AD were significantly higher in patients with essential hypertension than that in normotensive subjects. (3) The levels of plasma SP increased and the concentrations of NA and AD decreased after antihypertensive drug treatment. These results suggest that both plasma SP and catecholamines were involved in essential hypertensive pathogenesis.