Fig. 4. Pressure-natriuresis curves in the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet-Sodium trial. Urinary sodium excretion rate (U_NaV: mmol/d) and systemic mean arterial pressure (MAP: mm Hg) were plotted on the ordinate and abscissa for control and DASH diets. Open and closed circles represent data for the control and DASH diets, respectively. Error bars indicate ±1 standard errors of the means. Regression lines for 3 different amounts of sodium were U_NaV=30x(MAP-94) in control diet, and U_NaV=65x(MAP-93) in DASH diet. DASH diet augmented the slope of the pressure-natriuresis curve from 30 to 65 ([mmol/d]/mm Hg, P=0.0002) without affecting the extrapolated intercept of BP axis (94 vs 93 mm Hg, P=0.22), resulting in a decrease in sodium sensitivity of BP from 0.034 to 0.015 mm Hg/(mmol/d). Please note that the discrepancy between data plot and estimated pressure-natriuresis curve (line) is ascribed to the fact that a regression line was obtained from a whole cluster of data instead of averaging the extrapolated x-intercepts and slopes of the line in each participant. Reprinted with permission from Akita et al. [18].