A B S T R A C T Persistent secretion of vasopressin and/ or diminished distal fluid delivery have been proposed to explain the impaired water excretion associated with low-output cardiac failure. In the present investigation cardiac output (CO) was diminished in anesthetized dogs undergoing a water diuresis by constriction of the thoracic inferior vena cava (TIVC). In intact animals (group I) acute TIVC constriction decreased CO from 3.5 to 2.2 liters/min (P < 0.005) as urinary osmolality (U05m) increased from 103 to 543 mosmols/ kg (P < 0.001) and free water clearance (CH20) decreased from 2.1 to -0.6 ml/min (P < 0.001). This antidiuretic effect was disassociated from changes in renal arterial and venous pressures, glomerular filtration rate, solute excretion, and renal innervation. To examine the role of vasopressin in this antidiuresis, studies.,(group II) were performed in acutely hypophysectomized, steroid-replaced animals. In these animals TIVC constriction decreased CO to a similar degree from 3.4 to 2.1 liters/min (P <0.001). However, the effects on U03m; (87-104 mosmols/kg) and CH20 (2.1-1.6 ml/min) were significantly less than in intact dogs. In another group of hypophysectomized animals, (group III) renal arterial and venous pressures were not controlled, and the effect of TIVC constriction on Uosm was not significant (65-79 mosmols/kg) although CH20 decreased from 3.3 to 1.9 ml/min (P < 0.001). In both the group II and III studies, there were linear correlations between the changes in CH2o and the urine flow.Studies were also performed in baroreceptor-denervated animals with intact hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal tracts, and acute TIVC constriction altered neither Uosm nor CH2o when renal arterial pressure was controlled. These (TIVC) ' has been used by numerous investigators (1-4) as an experimental model of cardiac failure and is known to be associated with a diminished cardiac output (CO) (4) and increased tubular reabsorption of sodium (1-4). The effect of acute TIVC constriction on renal diluting capacity has not been previously investigated. An impairment in renal water excretion is, however, a frequent accompaniment of low-output cardiac failure (5). Although the mechanism of this defect in water excretion is unknown, it has been suggested to be mediated by either increased release of vasopressin (6) or diminished delivery of fluid to the distal diluting segment of the nephron (5). The present studies were therefore undertaken to examine the effect of acute TIVC constriction on renal water excretion and to define the mechanism of any such effect.METHODS 40 experiments were performed on 24 mongrel dogs of either sex weighing 20-30 kg. Food was withheld 18 h before the experiment and all animals had free access to water. The animals were anesthetized with i.v. pentobarbital (30 mg/kg) and intubated and ventilated with a Harvard respirator (Harvard Apparatus Co. Inc., Millis, Mass.). Nine animals underwent transbuccal hypophysectomy through the hard palate on the morning of the experiment (7). ...