EFFECT OF SEROTONIN ON BLOOD PRESSURE AND LACK OF EFFECT OF ANTIMETABOLITE

Abstract

For several years we have determined the blood pressure of patients with nutritive failure when they entered the nutrition clinic of the Hillman Hospital. We have found great variation in the blood pressure readings, ranging from systolic pressures of around 70 to pressures that cannot be read on an ordinary sphygmomanometer. In general, persons with severe nutritive failure tend to have a systolic and diastolic blood pressure below average, and, when the nutritive failure is corrected and they begin to lead a more energetic life, the blood pressure tends to increase.¹ In 1868 Ludwig and Schmidt² described a vasoconstricting agent that occurs in the serums of mammals, and it occurred to us that this agent, or some such substance, might be affected by nutritive failure and thus account for the decrease in blood pressure readings of certain of our patients. This thought led us to ask ourselves: Could