DISSOCIATION OF SELECTIVE RENAL VENOUS PLASMA ENDOTHELIN-1 ACTIVITY AND CORRESPONDING PLASMA-RENIN ACTIVITY IN A PATIENT WITH HYPERTENSION,SEVERE STENOSIS OF UNILATERAL RENAL-ARTERY AND IPSILATERALLY DECREASED RENAL-FUNCTION

Plasma endothelin-1 (ET-1)-like immunoreactivity in selective renal ve nous blood and peripheral venous blood was measured and compared with plasma renin activity and aldosterone level in a 26-year-old woman wit h suspected renovascular hypertension due to stenosis of the left rena l artery. Although there was no significant step-up in plasma renin ac tivity between the right and the left renal vein, left/right ratio of plasma ET-1 in the renal vein was 2.18. This case suggests that ET-1 m ay be one of the hypertensive mechanisms of suspected renovascular hyp ertension in addition to the renin-angiotensin system.