<International Circulation>:  Can you talk about the relationship between salt and capillary density?

  《国际循环》：您能谈谈食盐和毛细血管密度之间的关系吗？
 
    Prof. MacGregor: That is a separate issue about what salt does to capillary density.  We know that in people with high blood pressure there is a reduction in the number of capillaries and a reduction in microcirculation.  There is a reduction in the overall arteriole number and subsequent reduction in circulation and capillaries that go with the arterioles.  The question is whether it is directly related to the blood pressure or is it some other effect.  Now it is still unclear from the studies that we and others have done whether or not this decrease in capillary density is directly related to blood pressure.  There is a lot of evidence in animal studies that salt may be an important cause of the capillary rarifaction.  We did a study on effect of a reduction of salt in people with mild hypertension and showed very clearly that when there was a small reduction in salt intake in this very carefully controlled trial there was a big increase in capillary density.  This certainly suggests that salt may have a direct effect on capillary density.  Salt is not only putting up blood pressure but is having a lot of other dangerous effects as well.

    MacGregor教授：食盐对毛细血管密度的作用是另外一个问题。我们知道高血压的患者毛细血管的数量会减少，微循环也会减少。在这些患者体内所有细动脉的数量减少并且随之出现循环以及和小动脉相连的毛细血管的减少。问题是这种情况是直接与血压相关还是由高血压的其他方面所引起。我们和其他研究者进行的研究到目前为止还不清楚是否这种毛细血管密度的降低与血压直接相关。在动物实验中发现了很多关于食盐可能是导致毛细血管减少的重要原因的证据。我们进行了一项研究观察了减少食盐摄入量对轻度高血压患者的作用，结果很清楚的显示在这个严格对照的试验中，当食盐摄入量少量降低时毛细血管的密度就会明显增加。这明确表示食盐可能对毛细血管密度有直接作用。食盐不仅升高血压而且还存在很多其他的危险作用。