Pressor substances in arterial hypertension. II. Demonstration of pherentasin, a vasoactive material procured from blood.

Pherentasin, a highly active pressor substance producing a prolonged effect in the rat, has been obtained in a fairly pure form from the arterial blood of patients with hypertension. Its presence has been demonstrated by two biological methods. It was rarely found in normotensive blood. The blood of patients with renal or nephrogenic hypertension, either primary or secondary, consistently yielded this material. The blood of patients exhibiting neurogenic hypertension and the endocrine hypertensive syndrome had smaller amounts of it. Little or none was found in malignant hypertension. Perhaps pherentasin has a causal relation to the existence of arterial hypertension.