In two groups of volunteers pharmacological parameters of the antihypotensive drug midodrine have been investigated. The first group of 12 male healthy volunteers received 2.5 mg midodrine hydrochloride intravenously, as drinking solution or as tablet according to a randomized cross-over design. Plasma and urine samples were analyzed for midodrine and its main metabolite ST 1059 by high-performance liquid chromatography. The mean maximum concentration in plasma for midodrine was 10 ng/ml 20-30 min after oral administration, for ST 1059 5 ng/ml after 1 h. Midodrine was eliminated with a terminal half-life of 0.5 h, ST 1059 with a half-life of 3 hrs. The mean area under the plasma-level vs. time curve (AUC) of ST 1059 after administration of 2.5 mg midodrine i.v. was 28.7 ng x h/ml, and similar for the other formulations which are considered to be bioequivalent. In a second group of 15 volunteers with postural hypotension midodrine (M) as alpha-sympathomimetic drug and oxilofrine (O) as beta-sympathomimetic drug was given i.v. in a randomized double blind study against placebo (P). Blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and circulating catecholamines (CA) were determined before and after injections of the drugs as well as before and during 10 min of tilting. Echocardiographic parameters were obtained at rest before and after the administration of the drugs. Blood pressure remained unchanged at rest and during orthostasis after all agents injected. After oral administration of midodrine heart rate was decreased and systolic blood pressure increased significantly and dose-dependently. M lowered circulating noradrenaline.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)