ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a few problems related to the study of sodium and calcium metabolism which have special relevance in hypertension. It reviews the literature dealing with abnormalities of vascular smooth muscle (VSM) sodium handling in hypertension, mainly as studied in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) and the deoxycorticosterone acetate-treated rat. The chapter also reviews the findings relating to abnormal VSM calcium handling in SHR and in essential hypertension. It assesses the extent to which the available evidence can be used to substantiate claims that altered sodium and calcium metabolism in the vasculature of hypertensive individuals could be a reason for their high blood pressure. Most forms of experimental hypertension and certainly essential hypertension in man are characterized by an increase in peripheral resistance. Much of the evidence concerning the altered sodium and calcium metabolism in essential hypertension has been obtained from nonvascular tissues.
