In 56 spontaneously hypertensive rats of the Muenster strain, either parabiosis or cross circulation was performed with normotensive Wistar Kyoto rats. Crossed circulation was made through the common carotid arteries and external jugular veins using a peristaltic pump. In parabiosis and in cross-circulation experiments, hypertension was transmitted from spontaneously hypertensive to normotensive rats. Nephrectomy or adrenalectomy in the spontaneously hypertensive rat before cross circulation abolished this effect. After volume depletion in the hypertensive animals, hypertension was not transmitted either. Furthermore, the effect of plasma fractions from essential hypertensives (n = 20) on blood pressure of normotensive rats was studied. Substances with molecular weights higher than 6000-8000 and lower than 500 were removed from 60-ml plasma by ultrafiltration and dialysis. After chromatography on a Bio-Gel P-4 or P-2 column, three to four fractions were formed according to the results of UV spectrophotometry and concentrated to 0.5 ml. One fraction from hypertensive plasma containing substances with molecular weights between 1000 and 2000 increased blood pressure in the rat by 16.3 +/- 8.2 mmHg within 10 minutes when injected intravenously. The respective fractions from normotensive rat plasma increased blood pressure by 3.6 +/- 2.1 mmHg (p less than 0.01). The results demonstrate a circulating hypertensive factor both in spontaneously hypertensive rats and in essential hypertensives, which may be crucial for the pathogenesis of essential hypertension.