Effects of digoxin on plasma renin activity in hypertensive patients

The effects of digoxin have been studied on PRA of 11 hypertensive patients treated with a single oral administration of the glycoside or submitted to a prolonged treatment. The experiments performed with a single oral administration (0,5 mg) showed that digoxin induces a significant decrease of the hyperreninemic response induced by furosemide. This effect of digoxin develops very quickly and is well evident when plasma levels of the glycoside are still low. However, in the patients pretreated with a beta blocker, digoxin was completely ineffective in preventing the response to furosemide. In view of the results, the hypothesis is put forward that digoxin mainly acts at renal level through an antiadrenergic activity.