Sodium intake and the effects of isoproterenol and exercise on plasma renin in man.

Changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and plasma renin activity (PRA) were assessed during infusion of increasing doses of isoproterenol and during increasing work loads of dynamic exercise in five normal young men. Studies were performed at three levels of dietary sodium restriction: normal, moderately, and more severely restricted. Isoproterenol induced the expected dose-related increases in heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and PRA and decreases in diastolic blood pressure. Changes in dietary sodium intake affected these changes only to a minor degree. Dynamic exercise also induced the expected work-load-related increases in heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and PRA and decreases in diastolic blood pressure. Also these changes were not significantly affected by changes in dietary sodium intake. Apparently dietary sodium restriction does not sensitize the renin-releasing mechanisms to sympathetic stimulation.