Ten clinically stable, hypercapneic patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were studied to assess the effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme blockade on their inability to excrete a sodium load. Renal, hormonal, and cardiovascular responses to sodium loading were determined during two 5.5-h studies: control day, placebo; and experimental day, captopril. At baseline, compared with control subjects, patients displayed a decrease in urinary sodium associated with low effective renal plasma flow and high plasma level of aldosterone. Captopril, given before sodium loading, produced a significant increase in urinary sodium without increasing effective renal plasma flow and without suppressing plasma aldosterone more than sodium loading alone. Thus, the mechanism by which angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition induces an acute sodium diuresis in these patients remains to be elucidated. The blockade of angiotensin with captopril also affected the osmotic regulation of vasopressin: for a given increase in plasma osmolality, the increase in plasma vasopressin was subnormal, a finding consistent with the hypothesis that angiotensin II contributes to the regulation of vasopressin secretion.