1. Repeated measurements of blood pressure, cardiac output (99mTc-labelled albumin dilution with single-probe precordial counting of radioactivity), plasma volume and extracellular volume were made in 20 subjects exposed to mineralocorticoid excess. Patients with aldosterone-producing adenoma (n = 14) were followed for 6 weeks during the recurrence of hypertension after spironolactone treatment had been stopped. Patients with adrenal insufficiency (n = 4) were followed for 6–9 weeks after treatment with dexamethasone (1 mg daily) and fludrocortisone (0.5 mg daily) was begun. Patients with severe orthostatic hypotension due to autonomic insufficiency (n = 2) were followed for 21 and 120 weeks while treated with fludrocortisone (0.25 mg daily). Measurements were made weekly during the first 6 weeks and with longer intervals thereafter.
2. All subjects showed increments of cardiac output, stroke volume, plasma volume and extracellular volume during the first 2 weeks with little or no increase in total peripheral resistance. Mean blood pressure rose from 104 ± 3 to 126 ± 5 mmHg (mean ± sem) (P < 0.001, n = 14) in that period in primary aldosteronism and from 85 ± 4 to 94 ± 6 mmHg (P > 0.05, n = 6) with fludrocortisone.
3. After 6 weeks hypertension was maintained by increased resistance in nine subjects, whereas cardiac output and plasma volume had returned towards normal (mean blood pressure at the end of the study 127 ± 4 mmHg). In the remainder hypertension was maintained by increased cardiac output and expanded plasma Volume for at least 6 weeks (mean blood pressure at the end of the study 131 ± 8 mmHg). The patients with the high-resistance pattern were older (56 ± 2 years) than the patients with the high-flow pattern (34 ± 2 years) (P < 0.01).
4. Mean blood pressure and extracellular fluid volume were positively correlated (r = 0.63, P < 0.001, n = 161). Cardiac output was positively correlated with plasma volume (r = 0.51, P < 0.001, n = 161), and total peripheral resistance was inversely correlated with the plasma volume/interstitial fluid volume ratio (r = 0.47, P < 0.001, n = 161).
5. The long duration of a high-flow state and the interindividual differences in progression of high-resistance hypertension argue against a cause-and-effect relation between flow and resistance through local metabolic factors (auto-regulation) as a hypertensive mechanism in sodium loading. The results are compatible with the view that fluid-shifts between the intravascular and extravascular compartments can influence the changes in cardiac output and resistance in early and sustained hypertension due to sodium overload. Cardiac output is increased when the proportion of fluid that is retained in the intravascular compartment is relatively high, and vascular resistance is increased when that proportion is relatively low.
