Hypertensive action of 18-hydroxydeoxycorticosterone.

18-Hydroxydeoxycorticosterone is an adrenal steroid hormone causing salt and water retention and is secreted in greatly increased amounts in response to the pituitary hormone adrenocorticotropic hormone. Its production is abnormally high in some forms of hypertension in man and rat. Direct proof that 18-hydroxydeoxycorticosterone is capable of causing hypertension is present. Daily subcutaneous injections of 200 micrograms, a low physiological dose, significantly increase the blood pressure of unilaterally nephrectomized saline-treated rats after 2 weeks. This strengthens the hypothesis that 18-hydroxydeoxycorticosterone contributes to the etiology of hypertension, possibly by a mechanism involving stressinduced release of adrenocorticotropic hormone.