Essential Hypertension, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1986 Calcium Mechanisms and Treatment

This volume contains papers presented at the First International Symposium on Mechanism and Treatment in Essential Hyperten­ sion, which was held on October 23 and 24, 1985 in Nagoya, Japan. The meeting was an official satellite symposium to the meeting of the Fifth International Symposium on Rats with Spon­ taneous Hypertension and Related Studies in Kyoto, October 20-22, 1985. The Nagoya symposium was made possible by offi­ cial grants from the city of Nagoya and Aichi Prefecture and the generous financial support of many companies. The aim of the symposium was to provide a forum for presen­ tation and discussion of recent advances in the area of essential hypertension, particularly with regard to calcium mechanisms in vasoconstriction and vasodilation in arterial vessels and the func­ tion of arterial smooth muscle. The role of calcium ions in the function of arterial smooth muscle has attracted a great deal of attention in the last two decades. The mode of action of calcium ions was revealed at the molecular level. The hypertension model of the spontaneously hypertensive rat has been widely utilized for research into the fundamental mechanisms of genetic hyperten­ sion, stroke, and cardiovascular disease as well as into therapeutic measures. New tools of calcium agonists and antagonists have become available to research into the mechanism, prevention, and treatment of essential hypertension at the molecular, subcellular, and cellular levels of arterial smooth muscle, at the organ level of arterial vessels, as well as at the total systemic level.

Introduction: Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.- Discovery of the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat.- Classification of Hypertension.- Etiological Classification of Hypertension: Essential Hypertension, Environment Hypertension, and Disease Hypertension.- Calcium Mechanism in the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat.- Membrane Ca2+ Permeability and Calcium Antagonistic Effects in Resistance Vessels of Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.- Actions of Calcium Agonists and Antagonists on Femoral Arteries of Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.- Altered Vascular Calcium Metabolism As a Possible Cause of Increased Blood Pressure in Essential Hypertension.- Calcium-Membrane Interactions in Smooth Muscle in Relation to Hypertension: A Subcellular Membrane Approach.- Actions of Calcium Antagonists on Smooth Muscle Cells of Vascular Tissues: Current Knowledge on Actions of Ca Antagonists.- Myogenic Activity of Vascular Tissues and the Effects of Calcium Agonists and Antagonists.- Effects of Diltiazem on Myogenic Tone in Pressurized Brain Arteries from Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.- Growth Factors and Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats: Role of Ca2+ in Cellular Proliferation.- Calcium and Calcium Antagonists on Vascular Damage in Spontaneously and Dahl Hypertensive Rats.- Use of Isolated Membranes of Smooth Muscle to Study Calcium Channels.- Calcium Antagonists for Essential Hypertension.- Therapeutic Role of Calcium Antagonists in Essential Hypertension.- Effects of Calcium Antagonists in Essential Hypertension with Special Reference to Renal Function.- Dihydropyridines As Antihypertensive Agents.- Calcium Antagonists in Patients with Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus: Effects of Calcium Antagonist Nitrendipine on Glucose Homeostasis.- Epidemiological Studies on the Role of Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, and Magnesium in Hypertension.- Hemodynamic Effects of Diltiazem in the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat and in Human Essential Hypertension.- Hemodynamic Changes in Essential Hypertension and the Hemodynamic Effects of Calcium Antagonists.- Comparative Efficacy of Calcium Antagonists and Beta Blockers in Essential Hypertension.- Etiology of Hypertension.- Calcium Membrance Theory of Essential Hypertension.- Index of Key Words.