title: Effects of increased adrenomedullary activity and taurine in young patients with borderline hypertension.
abstract: Recent studies showed that taurine, a sulphonic amino acid, could decrease blood pressure and increase sympathoadrenal tone in DoCA-salt-treated hypertensive rats. To determine whether taurine exerts its antihypertensive action in man in a similar fashion, we studied the effect of oral administration of taurine (6 g for 7 days) on blood pressure and plasma catecholamines in 19 young patients with borderline hypertension in a double-blind, placebo-controlled fashion. Systolic blood pressure in the 10 patients who were treated with taurine decreased by 9.0 +/- 2.9 mm Hg (mean +/- SE; p less than .05 by paired t test), compared with a 2.7 +/- 2.3 mm Hg decrease (NS) in the nine patients treated with placebo and diastolic blood pressure in the taurine-treated patients decreased by 4.1 +/- 1.7 mm Hg (p less than .05) compared with 1.2 +/- 3.0 mm Hg (NS) in the placebo-treated subjects. In the patients receiving taurine plasma epinephrine (E) decreased significantly, with a negligible decrease in plasma norepinephrine (NE). The effect of taurine on plasma catecholamines and the response of plasma E after the stimulation with glucagon was also studied in 12 borderline hypertensive and nine age-matched normotensive subjects. Basal plasma E was significantly higher in borderline hypertensive than in normal subjects, but basal plasma NE did not differ in the two groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
mesh_terms: D000313:Adrenal Medulla / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004837:Epinephrine / Q000097:blood; D005934:Glucagon; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013654:Taurine / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D013654:Taurine; D005934:Glucagon; D004837:Epinephrine