Commentary the Sodium Pump in Cardiovascular Muscle in Hypertension: Whose Hypothesis?

Abstract

In an otherwise scholarly article recently published in CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL HYPERTENSION, Haddy et al (8) review the hypothesis linking certain forms of hypertension with defective operation of the sodium pump in cardiovascular muscle cells. This review, however, fails to present a completely accurate account of the development of the hypothesis. Because previous review articles by Haddy, rather than original research papers, are cited to reference the hypothesis, important aspects of primacy are neglected. Also, frequent use of the personal pronouns (“we, our”) and of the term “in our laboratories” obscures the fact that the important basic contributions to development of hypothesis were made i n independent laboratories before there was any collaboration at all. In view of the potential importance of this work, it is the purpose of this brief note to attempt to clarify the issue of primacy.