ABSTRACT
The kidney plays a dominant role in body fluid homeostasis and thereby contributes importantly to blood pressure regulation. Abnormal renal function has been considered to be an essential component of hypertension in both humans and animal models. Renal transplant studies suggest that the kidney participates in the development and maintenance of genetically mediated hypertension. The sympathetic nervous system, via the renal nerves, also plays an important role in the pathogenesis of renovascular hypertension in humans. Chronic sympathetic overstimulation of renal resistance vessels would be expected to alter blood vessel structure. Renal-afferent nerves convey information to the brain, and alterations in renal-afferent nerve activity can affect the stores and release of neurotransmitters in the hypothalamus and/or brain stem. Evidence derived mainly from renal-denervation studies in the rat indicates that the renal nerves are necessary for the full development and/or maintenance of hypertension of diverse etiologies.
