Dahl's hypothesis that a saluretic substance may be responsible for a sustained rise in arterial pressure: Its possible role in essential hypertension

Abstract

Recently, Blaustein described how a rise in the concentration of a circulating inhibitor of sodium transport might cause a rise in arterial pressure. Blaustein's hypothesis and the increasing evidence on the nature of hypertension in animals and man, and of the nature of natriuretic hormone, enable us to use Dahl's original hypothesis, and Borst and Borst de Geus's main tenet, that the kidney's control of sodium excretion is paramount in the control of blood pressure, to form a possible explanation for the origins of essential hypertension. The following account outlines the relevant animal work and then describes parallel observations that have been made in man.