Cosponsored by the Houston-based American Heart Association's Council for High Blood Pressure Research and the Ciba-Giegy Corp. Pharmaceuticals Division, Summit, N.J., this annual award--including a cash prize of $20,000 to be shared by the winners--recognizes contributions toward the improved understanding of hypertension. The award was presented during the American Heart Association's annual meeting, held in Chicago in September.
DeBold was the first to demonstrate that the heart has an endocrine function in addition to its role as a pump in the circulatory system. He discovered and isolated a hormone called atrial natriuretic factor (ANF), named thus because it is produced in the heart's atria and has very powerful diuretic and hypotensive properties. In general, deBold explains, ANF counteracts the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in the body, which increases blood pressure and blood volume.
"The characterization of this hormone led to numerous insights at the physiological level about water and electrolyte balance," he ...
