1. Structural and functional changes resulting from baroreceptor denervation were studied in rabbits 4 days after surgery. 2. After section of the aortic and carotid sinus nerves, arterial pressure was characteristically labile although the mean pressures were not significantly different from those of control animals. 3. The responsiveness of isolated ear arteries and cephalic veins from deafferented animals to noradrenaline and electrical stimulation of their sympathetic innervation was similar in both groups. 4. Neuronal uptake of noradrenaline into arterial tissue was similar in both groups, although uptake into the cephalic veins of deafferented animals was less than in the control group. 5. [ 3 H]Thymidine uptake, an index of DNA synthesis, was similar in both groups, radioautography revealing no difference in smooth muscle cell labelling. 6. Uptake of [ 3 H]proline, an indicator of protein synthesis, by aorta, ear, brachial, basilar and renal arteries from deafferented animals was greater than in control animals. 7. Baroreceptor denervation altered protein metabolism in the arterial wall.

1. The plasma concentrations and urinary output of proline and hydroxyproline contained in peptides were measured in normal rats and in rats with Fanconi syndrome produced by injection of sodium maleate. All animals received a prior injection of 10 mg of the dipeptide l-prolyl-l-hydroxyproline to increase plasma and urinary peptide content. There was a significant increase of urinary output of the two imino acids contained in peptides and a fall in their plasma concentrations. 2. It is concluded that increased output of peptides derived from collagen degradation in the experimental Fanconi syndrome in rats is at least in part due to diminished tubular reabsorption of these compounds from the glomerular filtrate. The results are claimed to be relevant to the increased output of urinary peptides in the Fanconi syndrome in man.

1. Plasma and buffy-coat vitamin C, urinary proline, hydroxyproline, creatinine and total amino acid concentrations were measured in 23 healthy elderly subjects at intervals of 3 months. 2. There was a strong positive correlation between plasma vitamin C and buffy-coat vitamin C. 3. There were no significant correlations between plasma or buffy-coat vitamin C and total urinary hydroxyproline, whether expressed on a creatinine basis or on a total amino acid basis. Similarly, no significant correlations could be detected involving the proline/hydroxyproline ratio in urine hydrolysates. 4. There was a significant negative correlation between plasma or buffy-coat vitamin C and total urinary proline, when expressed per unit of total amino acids in the hydrolysates. This correlation was not observed with unhydrolysed urine, and it appeared to reside in the diffusible fraction, part of whose proline could be liberated by prolidase digestion. In addition, in the men, there was some evidence for a positive correlation between plasma or buffy-coat vitamin C and the ratio of total urinary amino acids to creatinine. 5. These results support the view that poor vitamin C status in elderly humans may be associated with a defect in collagen proline hydroxylation, reflected by increased excretion of proline-rich, collagen-derived peptides. If this interpretation is correct, it indicates a potential defect in connective tissue repair, and could form the basis of a functional test for subclinical vitamin C deficiency.