[Permeability of the erythrocyte membrane for sodium in hypertension and symptomatic hypertension].

Sodium permeability of erythrocyte membranes was examined, using the recording of maximum rates of sodium-lithium countertransport, in patients with essential hypertension of stages II and III by the WHO classification, renal arterial hypertension, Itsenko-Cushing disease, pheochromocytoma, Conn's syndrome and in subjects with normal arterial pressure who made up a control group. Hypertensive patients demonstrated a more than 60% increase in erythrocyte membrane permeability, as compared to normotensive controls. In patients with pheochromocytoma, the permeability values were almost 40% as low as the control ones. No changes in sodium erythrocyte membrane permeability could be demonstrated in patients with renal hypertension, Itsenko-Cushing disease and Conn's syndrome. It is believed that the erythrocyte membrane permeability parameters can be used for the identification of essential hypertension in the differential diagnosis of hypertensions.