[Clinical significance of serum angiotensin I-converting enzyme in essential hypertension].

The present study was designed to clarify the role of serum angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) in the occurrence and maintenance of hypertension in essential hypertension (EH). For this purpose, following experiments were carried out: 1) Correlations between serum ACE activity and renin activity (PRA), aldosterone concentration (PAC) and bradykinin concentration (PBC) in plasma, and blood pressure (BP) as well as serum creatinine levels. 2) Circadian rhythm of serum ACE activity. and 3) Effect of furosemide, upright posture, both furosemide and upright posture, propranolol, indomethacin, 9 alpha-fluorocortisol or angiotensin II (A-II) on the serum ACE activity, PRA, PAC and circulating plasma volume (CPV). The following results were obtained: The serum ACE activity was 30.2 +/- 5.0 U/ml (means +/- SD) in EH as a group, which was significantly higher than that (27.3 +/- 3.9 U/ml) in age matched normotensive subjects (NT) (p less than 0.001). While there was no significant difference in the enzyme activity between low-renin EH (LREH) and NT, a significant difference was found between normal- (NREH) or high-renin EH (NREH) and NT (p less than 0.05 for NREH, p less than 0.01 for HREH). A negative correlation was observed between enzyme activity and age in EH (r = -0.221, 0.05 less than p less than 0.10) as well as in NT (r = -0.306, p less than 0.05). No significant relationships were observed between enzyme activity and BP in either EH or NT. There was a significant positive correlation between enzyme activity and PRA in NT. (r = 0.501, p less than 0.001), NREH (r = 0.658, p less than 0.001) and HREH (r = 0.695, p less than 0.001). However, no significant relationship was found between them in LREH. The enzyme activity was significantly correlated to PAC in NT (r = 0.368, p less than 0.01), NREH (r = 0.567, p less than 0.001) and HREH (r = 0.529, p less than 0.01), but not in LREH. Although no significant correlation was observed between enzyme activity and PBC in NT, NREH and HREH, a significant relationship was found in LREH (r = -0.460, 0.05 less than p less than 0.10). The enzyme activity was not related to serum creatinine levels in EH as well as in NT. In NT, the serum levels of ACE activity reached a maximum values at 6:00 a.m. or 9:00 a.m., and gradually decreased between 6:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. An almost similar circadian rhythm of enzyme activity was found in EH.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)