1 Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 1740 Bainbridge Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19146
A Relationship between the kidney and hypertension has been recognized for centuries. For the past three decades various manipulations of the kidney, beginning with the "Goldblatt kidney," have been known to produce hypertension. Thus, it has long been suspected that some humoral factor originating in renal tissue was involved. There is now evidence that this renal factor is renin and it appears to originate in the juxtaglomerular apparatus. The exact mode of its release is not entirely clear, but it seems probable that subtle changes in blood volume or perhaps blood viscosity play a role. Hormonal control has not been ruled out. It is known that sodium depletion leads to increased release of renin.