Hypotensive effect of SC-9420 on 3 cases of primary aldosteronism.

Primary aldosteronism is the disease with resultant various metabolic disorders by increased aldosterone secretion primarily caused from the pathologic changes of the adrenal cortex. So all symptoms of this disease are resulted from the oversecretion of aldosterone directly or indirectly, and also hypertension, one of the cardinal symptoms of this disease, can be thought purely being the result of the oversecretion of aldosterone. Kagawa et al.' reported that synthetic steroids, spirolactones, block the renal effects of aldosterone and deoxycortone. One of these new compounds, SC 9420, 3-(3-keto-7ƒ¿-acetylthio-17ƒÀ-hydroxy-4-androsten-17ƒÁ-yl)-propionic acid-ƒÁ-lactone (Aldactone, spironolactone), has been reported to be effective even when administered orally. Many researchers2-7) have recently studied the effect of this agent on primary aldosteronism, and have observed that it has aldosterone-blocking action on electrolyte metabolism, but have not observed any hypotensive action. Tailor and Faloon8) and Cejka et al.9) have concluded that the natriuretic effect of spirolactone is enhanced when a high output of aldosterone is induced by loading a high dose of potassium or by feeding a low-sodium diet. This paper is concerned with the hypotensive effect of SC-9420 on 3 cases of