Plasma noradrenaline concentration and alpha-adrenoceptor-mediated vasoconstriction in normotensive and hypertensive man.

1. Plasma noradrenaline concentrations and blood pressure were measured in 45 patients with essential hypertension and 34 matched normotensive subjects. Plasma noradrenaline was similar in both groups, but in the hypertensive patients plasma noradrenaline correlated with blood pressure. 2. The increase in forearm flow in response to an intra-arterial infusion of phentolamine was determined in 12 of the hypertensive and 14 of the normotensive subjects to assess the alpha-adrenoceptor-mediated component of vascular resistance. Although the dilator response to phentolamine was similar in both groups, in the hypertensive patients it was correlated with the control plasma noradrenaline (r = 0.83, P less than 0.01) as well as the height of mean blood pressure (r = 0.73, P less than 0.01). 3. These results suggest that in hypertensive patients plasma noradrenaline can be a marker for both sympathetic activity and the alpha-adrenoceptor-mediated component of vascular resistance.