There has long been interest in the possibility that a relationship exists between essential hypertension and those endocrine aberrations that involve the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal cortex. This paper represents an attempt to study these relationships indirectly by an examination of the manner in which the kidneys of patients with these various diseases handle water, sodium, and chloride.ATTEMPTS to hold any one organ responsible for the production of hypertension have been exhaustive but not highly profitable. This might indicate that underlying the hypertension is a generalized systemic reaction in which many organs participate. The hypothalamus, with its protean functions, has recently been suggested as a mediator of this reaction.'-5 Although this hypothesis should be subjected to experimental investigation, the complexity of hypothalamic function makes any quantative study of its total effect impossible. However, it might be assumed that if the total function is so altered that hypertension results, then each component function must also be altered. The one component function that can be measured is liberation of antidiuretic hormone in response to an appropriate stimulus. In order to measure this, a modification of the technic described by Hickey and Hare6 has been utilized; it permits comparison of the renal excretion pattern of water, sodium and chloride in a variety
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