ANTIDIURETIC ACTIVITY OF THE SERUM OF NORMAL AND DISEASED SUBJECTS*

Abstract

IT IS well known that patients with congestive heart failure excrete water less readily than do normal humans. Edema is liable to develop, and it is possible that this is due to the action of an antidiuretic principle. Thus Robinson and Farr (1) in 1940, investigating certain edematous states of noncardiac origin, found increased amounts of an antidiuretic substance in the urine; and Bercu et al. and others (2, 3) recently reported similar findings in subjects with congestive heart failure. Eversole, Birnie and Gaunt (4, 5) have shown in rats that the liver inactivates Pitressin. From this observation one might expect that patients with liver damage would have increased amounts of antidiuretic substances in the body, and in fact, Ralli et al. (6) have found that cirrhotic patients with ascites excreted more than normal amounts of an antidiuretic substance. Hall, Frame and Drill (7) also have reported that the urine of cirrhotics contains a substance with antidiuretic activity, but they were unable to demonstrate such activity in the urine of normal subjects. Recently Dochios and Dreifus (3) have shown an increased antidiuretic activity in the urine of patients with cirrhosis.