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• Sympathetic effects via renin release
  Steve Jordan Kane
  Published on: 24 November 1999

• Published on: 24 November 1999

  Sympathetic effects via renin release

  • Steve Jordan Kane, Junior House Surgeon and Lecturer in Pharmacology, Balliol College, Oxford
  • Other Contributors:
    • Todd Hall

  Dear Sir,

  This case is extremely useful as an illustration of the varying presentations of phaeochromocytomas. The inclusion of the CT and the details of the differential effects given depending upon the catecholamine released were helpful.

  I might venture a further, perhaps more important, mediator of the dramatic drop in K+ noted in this patient and other phaeos. There are a large number of beta ad...

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  Dear Sir,

  This case is extremely useful as an illustration of the varying presentations of phaeochromocytomas. The inclusion of the CT and the details of the differential effects given depending upon the catecholamine released were helpful.

  I might venture a further, perhaps more important, mediator of the dramatic drop in K+ noted in this patient and other phaeos. There are a large number of beta adrenoceptors and sympathetic nerves in the renin- secreting apparatus of the kidney. Stimulation of these should precipitate, eventually, a raised aldosterone level and thus a drop in K+ (with an increased Na+). Neither Na+ nor any of the components of this renin-(ACE)-AGII-Aldosterone axis were measured in the article. I wonder what any relevant tests actually did show? When discussing how beta- blockers work in hypertension, this is undoubtedly part of the wider explanation.

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  Conflict of Interest:
  None declared.

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