Abstract: The plasma ANP radioimmunoassay was carried out on 14 cases with the first stage essential hypertension and on 14 normal subjects. The results show that the plasma ANP level of the patients with essential hypertension is higher than that of the normal subjects(p<0.02). Meanwhile, the 24 hours urine amount and the plasma renin activity (PRA) of the essential hypertensive subjects are also higher than the normal group (p<0.01; p<0.001, respectively).

Key words: essen ial hypertension, atrial natriutrotc polypeptide, plasma renin activity