Effects of l -Arginine Infusion on Renal Hemodynamics in Patients With Mild Essential Hypertension

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that endothelium-derived relaxing factor/nitric oxide plays an important role in the regulation of systemic and renal hemodynamics. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether endothelium-dependent renovascular relaxation was impaired in patients with mild essential hypertension who had normal renal plasma flow and glomerular filtration rate. We evaluated the effects of intravenous administration of l-arginine on blood pressure and renal hemodynamics in 13 patients with mild essential hypertension and 15 normotensive control subjects. l-Arginine infusion (500 mg/kg over 30 minutes) reduced mean blood pressure (from 82.5±2.5 to 76.3±2.6 mm Hg in hypertensive patients and from 106.1±3.0 to 97.5±2.9 mm Hg in control subjects; P<.001) and renovascular resistance (from 0.084±0.009 to 0.067±0.009 mm Hg · mL−1 · min−1 · [1.48 m2]−1 and from 0.105±0.010 to 0.093±0.011 mm Hg · mL−1 · min−1 · [1.48 m2]−1, respectively; P<.001). l-Arginine infusion increased renal p...