Summary

This article discusses the mechanisms of salt-sensitive hypertension. The link between salt intake and hypertension is not a recent discovery but, rather, has been known for a half-century on the basis of studies conducted worldwide. Subjects with hypertension can be classified as salt-insensitive and salt-sensitive. It is beginning to be understood that salt sensitivity can be modulated by multiple mechanisms, including the renal sympathetic nervous system, the mineralocorticoid receptor, and aldosterone.