[Recent insights into the role of aldosterone in physiology, pathology and therapy].

Recently, it has become clear that the action of aldosterone is far more complicated than it was previously thought. Beyond regulating sodium and volume homeostasis by its epithelial action, the hormone exhibits its effects in other organs, such as the heart, blood vessels and central nervous system. Some of these actions, so called non-genomic effects, are not related to the aldosterone-induced stimulation of classical mineralocorticoid receptors. In this paper we discuss the progress made in understanding the physiological function of aldosterone and the role of its excess in the etiology of cardiovascular disorders. In the second part of this article, we provide an overview of the clinically-proven benefits of a new selective aldosterone-receptor antagonist, eplerenone.