Hypertension, Natriuresis, and the Renal Prostaglandins

Excerpt

Prostaglandins are a group of cyclical fatty acids with diverse potent biological activities which were discovered independently in the early 1930's by Goldblatt (1) and von Euler (2). In 1962 Bergström, Ryhage, Samuelsson, and Sjövall (3) elucidated the chemical structure of two distinct classes of prostaglandins, prostaglandins E and prostaglandins F (PGE and PGF). The PGE compounds lower blood pressure and stimulate nonvascular smooth muscle to contract; the PGF compounds are without vasodepressor effects but, like PGE, possess intestinal-smooth-muscle-stimulating activity. The widespread occurrence of these compounds is evidenced by their isolation from such sources as sheep seminal vesicles; sheep, pig,