ABSTRACT

The effects of dietary sodium restriction and posture on plasma concentrations of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), aldosterone and free aldosterone were investigated in ten women between weeks 29 and 33 of normal pregnancy. Hormone levels were studied during unrestricted sodium intake and on day 6 of a low sodium diet. On both occasions venous blood was obtained in the sitting as well as in the left lateral tilt position.

Plasma concentrations of ANP during the unrestricted sodium intake were not raised compared with control values in healthy non-pregnant females. Recovery experiments showed no differences in the degradation of ANP in blood from pregnant and non-pregnant women. Plasma concentrations of ANP significantly decreased (by 32%) in response to the low sodium regime in both positions. Concentrations of aldosterone and free aldosterone (in women in the sitting position) increased twofold after sodium restriction. Mean values of ANP were higher in women in the left lateral tilt position that in those in the sitting position, but the difference was not significant. Concentrations of aldosterone and free aldosterone were significantly lower (by around 30%) in women in the left lateral tilt position compared with those in the sitting posture.

Journal of Endocrinology (1990) 124, 507–513

Neurohypophysial hormones are thought to be involved in alterations in fluid balance during pregnancy and delivery. In the course of normal pregnancy intravascular volume is increased whereas sodium restriction is thought to reduce plasma volume and cardiac output. In the present study, we measured the effect of long-term severe sodium restriction on vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) levels during normal pregnancy and after delivery.

Fifty-nine healthy nulliparous women were randomized either for a low sodium diet (20 mmol sodium daily) or for a normal diet from week 12 of pregnancy onwards. Circulating plasma levels and urinary excretion of AVP and OT, their neurophysins (Np-AVP and Np-OT) and AVP bound to platelets were determined at regular intervals during pregnancy and after delivery. After completion of the study, women on a sodium-restricted diet were compared with control women on a normal diet using repeated measurement ANOVA with adjustment for potentially confounding variables.

After randomization, a reduction in urinary sodium excretion of, on average, 40–82% was found. In general, no effect of sodium restriction could be demonstrated on the various parameters (0·53<P<0·98) with the exception of a significantly lower 24-h urinary AVP excretion by non-smokers with sodium restriction compared with non-smokers having a normal diet (P=0·018) For all parameters, clear changes were found in the course of pregnancy and puerperium (P<0·0001 to P<0·005). Platelet-bound AVP decreased and Np-OT increased during pregnancy. After birth, free plasma AVP, plateletbound AVP, OT, osmolality, sodium and potassium increased, while Np-AVP and Np-OT decreased.

Although elevated Np-AVP and Np-OT levels during pregnancy seem to indicate increased release of neurohypophysial hormones, pregnancy up to 36 weeks of gestation is accompanied by low circulating AVP and OT levels.

Long-term severe sodium restriction diminishes urinary AVP excretion in (non-smoking) pregnant women, without changing circulating levels of AVP and OT, despite the known reduction in circulating volume. The reduced circulating (platelet-bound) AVP levels during pregnancy, whether or not in combination with severe sodium restriction, support the absence of significant non-osmotic stimulation of AVP during pregnancy.

Journal of Endocrinology (1997) 152, 345–354