Elevation of blood pressure induced by an acute sodium and fluid load in the anephric state has been attributed to intravascular fluid volume expansion. The present experiments were designed to study the role of vasopressin and catecholamines in this type of hypertension. Normotensive anephric rats, adrenergically intact or pretreated with alpha- and beta-adrenoceptor blockade, and deoxycorticosterone (DOC)-salt-treated anephric rats, intact or pretreated with alpha- and beta-adrenoceptor blockade, received an infusion of 2 ml containing 3 meq NaCl, followed by intravenous administration of an analogue antagonist of the vasopressor effect of arginine-vasopressin (AVP). Pressure increments induced by hypertonic saline were abolished by an AVP antagonist partly in the adrenergically intact animals (leaving a small residual pressure elevation) and completely in adrenergically blocked animals, which had a larger AVP component. Volumes expansion did not necessarily accompany increase in blood pressure after saline infusion. In fact some DOC-salt-treated animals with the highest blood pressures and norepinephrine levels exhibited contraction of plasma volume. Increments in blood pressure were negatively correlated with plasma volume changes (r = -0.687, P less than 0.05) in these animals and positively with norepinephrine levels in all adrenergically intact animals (r = 0.818, P less than 0.001). It is concluded that the hypertensive response elicited by acute hypertonic saline load is due to vasoconstriction mediated partly by vasopressin and partly by the sympathetic system, which may in some way attenuate the effect of vasopressin.
SUMMARY To evaluate the partial contributions and interaction of three vasopressor systems in blood pressure maintenance, nephrectomized rats and rats with intact kidneys were submitted sequentially to catecholamine depletion, elimination of vasopressin's vasoconstrictor action, and (for those with kidneys in situ) angiotensin blockade. Catecholamine depletion decreased blood pressure and stimulated vasopressin levels in all rats, but significantly more so in the anephric ones. Subsequent injection of an antagonist to the vasopressor effect of vasopressin produced a lasting fall of blood pressure in anephric rats, but only transient fall in those with intact kidneys. Infusion of teprotide -an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor -in the latter animals also produced transient blood pressure fall, but if this were followed by injection of the vasopressin antagonist, the pressure remained low for several hours. Blood pressure levels were closely correlated with those of plasma catecholamines throughout these maneuvers. Catecholamine levels were inversely correlated with those of plasma vasopressin, which were far greater in anephric rats through both stimulation and accumulation. Plasma renin activity was increasingly stimulated by falling blood pressure after each maneuver in rats with intact kidneys. Thus, it appears that in the resting state the sympathetic nervous system is more involved in the maintenance of blood pressure, whereas vasopressin and renin are important backup mechanisms. The present experiments were designed to evaluate the contribution of each one of these three vasopressor systems to the maintenance of normal blood pressure. Catecholamine depletion and bilateral nephrectomy were intended to produce conditions comparable -albeit extreme -to those likely to be encountered in the therapy of human hypertension, e.g., treatment with sympatholytic agents and advanced renal failure. Under these conditions, we studied the interaction and relationships of catecholamines, vasopressin, and the renin-angiotensin system.
Normotensive anephric rats infused with 2 milliliters of a hyperosmolar solution of either sodium chloride or mannitol showed an increase in arterial pressure that was very pronounced with the sodium chloride and that could be partly abolished by administration of an antagonist to the vasopressor action of antidiuretic hormone (ADH). Rats with congenital ADH deficiency subjected to the same treatment showed smaller increments in arterial pressure that remained unchanged after administration of the ADH antagonist. Expansion of intravascular fluid volume was similar in all four groups and bore no correlation to the change in arterial pressure. It is concluded that about half of the increase in blood pressure induced by saline was attributable to the vasopressor effect of stimulated ADH and the remainder to an additional sodium-related factor, since it was more pronounced in the saline-infused than in the mannitol-infused groups. Expansion of the intravascular volume per se could only account for a minimal part of the increment in pressure.
To clarify further the action of acute administration of L-tyrosine in lowering blood pressure, L-tyrosine ethylester was infused intravenously into awake [deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt] hypertensive rats, two-kidney Goldblatt hypertensive rats, and normotensive rats. The effects of tyrosine were measured on arterial pressure, heart rate, plasma catecholamine levels, and plasma renin activity. Blood pressure and heart rate were lowered in all groups despite significant elevation of plasma dopamine in all groups and epinephrine in the hypertensive groups, norepinephrine did not rise significantly, and plasma renin activity was always found to be within the ranges expected for each model. It was concluded that tyrosine produced the progressive decline in blood pressure and heart rate by bringing about a sustained state of parasympathetic dominance, as effective sympathetic compensation did not occcur. This could be attributed to increased alpha-adrenergic activity in certain sites in brain secondary to increased catecholaminergic activity in these areas.
We investigated the systemic and regional hemodynamic alterations induced in normotensive anephric rats by stimulation of endogenous vasopressin with an acute sodium and fluid load and following vasopressin inhibition with a specific antagonist of its vasoconstricting action. Blood pressure and total peripheral resistance were significantly higher and cardiac output was lower in rats with stimulated vasopressin, and all were reversed to near control levels in rats receiving the vasopressin inhibitor. Regional blood flows were diminished in most organs and local vascular resistance was elevated compared with control animals, but the magnitude of change varied widely. In fact, heart blood flow did not decrease significantly and brain blood flow actually increased indicating small or no change in vascular resistance of these organs. Moreover, fractional distribution of the diminished cardiac output to these organs was significantly higher, so that blood flow to vital organs was maintained at the expense of blood flow to other tissues. In rats that received the vasopressin antagonist after the saline infusion, regional blood flows were similar to those of control animals. Blood pressures at the base line and after hypertonic NaCl infusion correlated closely with the corresponding plasma levels of control and stimulated vasopressin.
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