This volume represents the proceedings of an international symposium held in Kyoto, Japan. The development of a colony of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) by Okamoto and Aoki in 1962 generated interest in this experimental model of an inherited form of hypertension. Colonies of SHR were made available to investigators in other countries, particularly in the United States, so that the symposium had a truly international flavor.
The hypertension in the SHR is progressive and leads to cardiovascular-renal complications. In many ways, this model resembles essential hypertension in man, and like the latter, the pathogenesis of the hypertension in the SHR has remained elusive. Various studies are here reported on catecholamine metabolism including brain, adrenal gland and blood vessel walls. Differences between normal Wistar and SH rats are reported, although it is not possible as yet to relate such changes to a primary role in causing the elevation of blood pressure.