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Biomedical subjects

J Genest

Publications and source records attributed to J Genest.

At least 325 records · Page 18Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

Selective hypopituitarism with severe hyponatremia and secondary hyporeninism.

A female patient presenting clinically a severe hyponatremia was found to have a selective hypopituitarism with predominant ACTH and partial FSH, LH, and GH deficiency as well as a suppression of plasma renin activity and aldosterone. The adrenal cortex responded well in cortisol increase to ACTH infusion and in plasma aldosterone increase to angiotensin II infusion. The patient had pressor hyperreactivity to angiotensin II. The hyponatremia was caused by a negative sodium balance induced by excessive urinary loss which remained unaffected by mineralocorticoid treatment. Substitution doses of cortisol, however, corrected the disturbance with an increase in plasma renin activity and improvement in the sodium balance. The data are interpreted as indicating a direct or indirect regulatory (permissive?) effect of low doses of cortisol on plasma renin activity correcting the underlying disturbance--the secondary hyporeninism.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1978

Increased aldosterone plasma protein binding in women on combined oral contraceptives throughout the menstrual cycle.

Plasma aldosterone concentration and the percentage of the fraction bound to a specific plasma aldosterone-binding globulin (ABG) were measured throughout the menstrual cycle in 26 healthy women aged between 19 and 38 yr who were receiving estrogen-containing oral contraceptives (OC), Midafternoon upright levels of total plasma aldosterone were similar in control and OC subjects and showed normal cyclic fluctuation in both groups. The percentage of ABG-bound aldosterone was markedly higher in OC subjects than in controls at all stages of the cycle and showed a positive correlation with the mean blood pressure when all OC subjects studied were considered. In addition, when the plasma ABG levels were measured 6 months or more after the start of medication, they appeared to be related to the dose of estrogen in the OC, but not to the length of time of its administration. The identity of plasma ABG in OC subjects with that in control subjects was also established.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Tonin--angiotensin II system in hypertension.

1. A single intravenous administration of rabbit tonin antiserum into one-kidney one-clip hypertensive rats restored blood pressure to normal in seven out of ten animals. There was little change in blood pressure in two-kidney one-clip hypertensive, uninephrectomized or sham-operated rats. 2. Infusion of tonin in control rats did not modify arterial blood pressure. However, in indomethacin salt-treated rats a marked increase in arterial blood pressure was observed under tonin infusion. 3. Plasma tonin activity was significantly increased in human essential and renovascular hypertension. 4. These findings strongly suggest that tonin is important in the maintenance of high blood pressure. However, other factors (possibly prostaglandins and sodium) have to be modified in order to activate the tonin--angiotensin II system.

Angiotensin II↗
PubMed1977

Renal vein plasma adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate in renovascular hypertension.

The concentration of plasma adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cyclic AMP) and plasma renin activity (PRA) were measured concomitantly in blood from both renal veins and in arterial blood in 22 hypertensive patients. In the nine patients with true renovascular hypertension the concentration of plasma cyclic AMP was greater in the venous effluent of the kidney affected by the renal artery stenosis than in that of the unaffected or less affected kidney. The arteriovenous difference in cyclic AMP concentration was less on the affected side in all but one patient. The arteriovenous differences in PRA identified the affected kidney as the source of hyper-reninemia and showed that renin release from the other kidney was suppressed. In the 13 patients with hypertension associated with but unrelated to renal artery stenosis there were no consistent patterns of cyclic AMP concentration or PRA in the venous effluent of the kidneys or of their arteriovenous differences. In renovascular hypertension the venous effluent of the kidney affected by renal artery stenosis contains not only more renin but also more cyclic AMP, owing to either increased cyclic AMP production or decreased excretion or extraction of cyclic AMP by the affected kidney. This unilateral increase in cyclic AMP concentration may become a complementary diagnostic feature of true renovascular hypertension.

Cyclic AMP↗
PubMed1977

Potentiation of pressor effects of noradrenaline and potassium ions in the rat mesenteric arteries by physiological concentrations of angiotensin II: effects of prostaglandin E2 and cortisol.

1. In the perfused rat mesenteric vascular bed, the effects of angiotensin II, cortisol and prostaglandin E2 on the vascular responses to noradrenaline or potassium chloride were studied. 2. Angiotensin II in subpressor concentrations potentiated the vasoconstrictor response to noradrenaline and potassium chloride. This effect of angiotensin II was inhibited in the presence of indomethacin and prostaglandin E2. 3. Cortisol in physiological concentrations inhibited the potentiating effect of angiotensin II. 4. Prostaglandin E2 enhanced the vasoconstrictor response to noradrenaline. This effect was not abolished by cortisol. 5. These results suggest that some actions of angiotensin II and cortisol in vivo are mediated by the regulation of prostaglandin synthesis or release.

Angiotensin II↗
PubMed1977

Effects of reserpine on water, cation, and norepinephrine contents of cardiovascular tissues of normotensive dogs.

Six adult male mongrel dogs were treated orally with reserpine (0.03 mg/kg) for 6 weeks, after which time the arterial tissue content of water, cations (sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium), and norepinephrine was determined and compared with those of six untreated dogs. Reserpine administration resulted in sustained decreases in the mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate, and the arterial tissues of the treated dogs contained less potassium, calcium, and magnesium, the last-named being affected most, but the sodium remained the same. Arterial norepinephrine content was significantly decreased. There was a slight but significant increase in plasma magnesium, without any noticeable changes in other plasma cations. The reduction in the arterial magnesium by reserpine may help to regulate vascular tone and (or) vascular reactivity.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Effect in vivo of beta-adrenergic stimulation, angiotensin II, dibutyryl cyclic AMP, and theophylline on tonin concentration in rat saliva and submaxillary gland.

Tonin (an enzyme present in rat submaxillary gland and saliva) has previously been shown to be able, unlike renin and reninlike substances, to release angiotensin II either directly by acting on an appropriate substrate or from angiotensin I. The administration of a beta-adrenergic drug, isoproterenol, produces a rise of tonin concentration in saliva without affecting its concentration in the submaxillary gland. Prior administration of a beta blocker, propranolol, partially prevents this effect. The administration of theophylline increases the tonin concentration in both saliva and the submaxillary gland, whereas dibutyryl cyclic AMP increases tonin concentration in the former. These results suggest that beta-adrenergic stimulation enhances both tonin release into the saliva and tonin synthesis in the submaxillary gland, and that these effects might be mediated by cyclic AMP. Infusion of angiotensin II blocked the stimulatory effect of isoproterenol on salivary tonin. 1Sar-8Ile-angiotensin II is both a weak antagonist of angiotensin II in this respect and a strong agonist in terms of blocking the effect of isoproterenol another role mirrored in other physiological mechanisms of derivatives of angiotensin II.

Angiotensin II↗
PubMed1977

Dependence of tonin activity in rat submaxillary gland on growth hormone and testosterone.

Tonin, an enzyme present in rat submaxillary gland, converts angiotensin I to angiotensin II and is able to form angiotensin II directly from renin substrates. This enzyme was previously shown to be different from renin, tissue isorenins, and angiotensin I converting enzyme. The specific activity of tonin in rat submaxillary gland increases with the age of the animal and is much higher in male than in female rats; this sex difference is apparent from 60 to 70 days of age. There is a sharp drop of tonin activity in hypophysectomized animals, whereas adrenalectomy, thyroidectomy, and gonadectomy have have little effect. The marked increase in tonin activity was observed in animals bearing MtT-F4 transplantable tumors known to produce ACTH, prolactin, and growth hormone. Tonin specific activity in hypophysectomized male rats is restored to control levels by combined treatment with growth hormone and testosterone. Prolactin alone or in combination with testosterone, as well as transplanted pituitaries, has no effect in hypophysectomized animals. There is a significant specific binding of 125I-labeled growth hormone to isolated membranes of rat submaxillary gland.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1977

Catecholamines, cyclic AMP and renin in two contrasting forms of essential hypertension.

Essential hypertension (EH) can be subdivided according to the sympathetic and renin activity into two contrasting forms: (1) borderline beta-hyperadrenergic renin hyperresponsive and (2) stable beta-hypoadrenergic renin hyporesponsive EH. These two forms probably represent two expreme poles in the spectrum of EH in which sympathetic and renin hyper- or hyporeactivity cannot be accounted for by catecholamine determinations solely. beta-Adrenergic responsiveness monitored by plasma cyclic AMP determinations revealed plasma cyclic AMP, renin and circulatory hyperresponsiveness to isoproterenol in borderline hyperadrenergic EH while the opposite, cyclic AMP and renin hyporesponsiveness to insulin-induced hypoglycemia have been described in low renin stable EH. The kidney is in the center of the adrenergic abnormality in the two forms of EH with the borderline one excreting into the urine catecholamines not accounted for by their glomerular filtration. Catecholamines solely, however, do not account for the differences in both forms of EH which can probably be attributed to their different beta-adrenergic responsiveness.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗