Contribution of vasopressin to hypertension.

The contribution of vasopressin to the hypertensive process has been examined in a number of models of hypertension. Vasopressin is essential for the production of DOC-salt hypertension in the rat, It is likely that vasopressin is required in the early stages of this model of hypertension for its antidiuretic activity and contributes to the later stages of the hypertension as a pressor agent. Vasopressin secretion is increased in SHR, but there may be some differences between the SHR and stroke-prone SHR strains. The pressor action of vasopressin appears to be important in the stroke-prone SHR with well-established hypertension, but not in the young SHR. Vasopressin secretion is greater in Dahl S rats on a high salt diet than in similarly treated R rats. Blockade of vasopressin's pressor activity failed to lower blood pressure in these S rats, unless they were pretreated with captopril. There is insufficient information to determine whether vasopressin has a role in the hypertension in NZGH rats. Vasopressin appears to function as a pressor agent in some, but not all, rats with two-kidney, one clip hypertension. Although vasopressin is not essential for the production of one-kidney, one clip hypertension, it apparently contributes to the hypertension by virtue of its antidiuretic activity. Vasopressin secretion is elevated in partial nephrectomy-salt hypertension, and here, too, it is needed for its antidiuretic action. The question of whether vasopressin secretion is elevated in human essential hypertension is controversial, and its role remains to be determined.