Leucocyte membrane sodium transport in normotensive populations: dissociation of abnormalities of sodium efflux from raised blood-pressure.
Sodium efflux rates were measured in leucocytes from eighteen normotensive subjects who had one or more first-degree relatives with essential hypertension and from twenty-four matched controls with no such family history. The total efflux rate constant was significantly lower in those with a family history of hypertension, owing to reduced ouabain-sensitive sodium pump activity. The presence of a membrane electrolyte handling abnormality characteristic of essential hypertension in normotensive individuals genetically predisposed to hypertension points to an underlying genetic factor. At the same time, the fact that blood-pressure was normal in these subjects indicates that the abnormality does not participate directly in blood-pressure elevation. Rather, the abnormality, like other red-cell changes in electrolyte handling, seems to be a marker for a genetically determined alteration in membrane structure, and thus only indirectly related to hypertension.
D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D010042:Ouabain / Q000494:pharmacology; D012964:Sodium / Q000378:metabolism*
D010042:Ouabain; D012964:Sodium