A different role of digoxin-like factor in the maintenance of elevated blood pressure in rats treated with DOCA and saline in youth or only in adulthood.

The acute administration of anti-digoxin serum (ADS) caused a pronounced long-lasting blood pressure decrease only in those hypertensive rats that were treated with DOCA and 1% saline from prepuberty. There was no effect of ADS on blood pressure of rats treated in the same manner in adulthood only. The age at which salt intake was increased could be responsible for both the susceptibility of animals to salt-dependent forms of experimental hypertension and the participation of slow-acting humoral pressor agents (endogenous digoxin-like factors) in the maintenance of their elevated blood pressure.