Peripheral Dopamine in Postural Tachycardia Syndrome

The purpose of the proposed research is to determine how changes in kidney dopamine (DA) activity influence urinary sodium excretion. We will decrease DA activity in the kidney by inhibiting DA synthesis via carbidopa administration. We want to compare findings in normal volunteers and in patients with postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS). We will test the null hypothesis (Ho) that the effects of oral carbidopa administration on urinary sodium excretion will not differ between patients with POTS and healthy volunteers.