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(Circulation. 1959;20:422.)
© 1959 American Heart Association, Inc.

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Plasma Norepinephrine Response to Tilting in Essential Hypertension

ROGER B. HICKLER M.D.¹; JAMES T. HAMLIN III M.D.¹; ROE E. WELLS JR. M.D.¹

¹ From the Department of Medicine and the Pearl Memorial Geriatric Unit of the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and from the Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.

A significant increase in the plasma concentration of norepinephrine on tilting 19 normal subjects from the horizontal to 60° upright is described. Evidence that this represents an increased neuroadrenergic activity to maintain cerebral circulation despite the peripheral pooling of blood has previously been reported. When 9 subjects with severe essential hypertension were similarly tilted, the rise in plasma norepinephrine concentration was insignificant. This may indicate a diminished neuroadrenergic activity in essential hypertension due to compensatory reflexes from the baroreceptor regions.

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