Role of ouabain-like factors in hypertension: effects of ouabain and certain endogenous ouabain-like factors in hypertension.

Several reports suggest the presence of sodium-potassium pump inhibitor in plasma and various tissues, particularly during volume-expanded state and lowrenin hypertension. It has been hypothesized that by inhibiting the cardiovascular muscle-cell Na + -K + pump, this inhibitor can constrict blood vessels, enhance vasoconstriction, and increase cardiac contractility, thereby raising blood pressure. Only two such endogenous inhibitors have been chemically characterized: the bufodienolide derivative, resibufogenin, obtained from toad skin and plasma; and a factor with the same structure (based on mass spectral analysis) as ouabain, from human plasma