Many similarities in kidney-function abnormalities were found between hypertensive rats of the Milan strain (MHS) and young normotensive human subjects with hypertensive parents, compared with the appropriate controls. These similarities included an increased glomerular filtration rate, increased pressor effect of the kidney after transplantation, increased 24-h urinary output and lower plasma renin activity and urinary kallikrein. The isolated MHS kidney perfused in vitro with an artificial medium had a higher glomerular filtration rate, a higher urinary output, higher tubular sodium reabsorption and higher oxygen consumption than the kidney of control Milan normotensive rats (MNS). Further, reogenic sodium transport across brush border vesicles isolated from proximal tubular cells is faster in MHS than in MNS. Erythrocytes and proximal tubular cells of MHS have a lower volume and sodium content than those of MNS, while sodium transport is faster and the Ca2+-ATPase at Vmax is lower. This indicates that the 'genetic' cellular abnormality responsible for the renal-function abnormality and the hypertension is also present in erythrocytes. Thus these cells may be used to study the genetic cellular mechanisms of hypertension. Experiments with bone marrow transplantation and with F2 hybrids obtained by crossing the F1 (MHS X MNS) hybrids showed that the MHS erythrocyte abnormalities are genetically determined within the stem cells and are genetically associated with the hypertension. Since, in human hypertensives, there was a correlation between abnormal erythrocyte sodium transport and renal function, it is proposed that erythrocytes may be used in studying the cellular molecular mechanisms of hypertension.