.2010.-We investigated the effect of the intravenous infusion of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) on the response of plasma arginine vasopressin (AVP) levels to intravenous infusion of angiotensin II (ANG II) in healthy individuals. Intravenous infusion of ANP (10 ng·kg Ϫ1 ·min Ϫ1 ) slightly but significantly decreased plasma AVP levels, while intravenous infusion of ANG II (10 ng·kg Ϫ1 ·min Ϫ1 ) resulted in slightly increased plasma AVP levels. ANG II infused significant elevations in arterial blood pressure and central venous pressure (CVP). Because the elevation in blood pressure could have potentially inhibited AVP secretion via baroreceptor reflexes, the effect of ANG II on blood pressure was attenuated by the simultaneous infusion of nitroprusside. ANG II alone produced a remarkable increase in plasma AVP levels when infused with nitroprusside, whereas the simultaneous ANP intravenous infusion (10 ng·kg Ϫ1 ·min Ϫ1 ) abolished the increase in plasma AVP levels induced by ANG II when blood pressure elevation was attenuated by nitroprusside. Thus, ANG II increased AVP secretion and ANP inhibited not only basal AVP secretion but also ANG II-stimulated AVP secretion in humans. These findings support the hypothesis that circulating ANP modulates AVP secretion, in part, by antagonizing the action of circulating ANG II. atrial natriuretic peptide; baroreceptor reflex; blood pressure; vasopressin ANGIOTENSIN II (ANG II) and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) are known to be important regulators of the fluid balance and arterial pressure (12,22,23), and an interaction between ANG II and ANP has been observed in several organs involved in the central nervous system (12,26). The intracerebroventricular administration of ANG II was recently shown to produce increased arterial pressure with elevated secretion of arginine vasopressin (AVP) (22,23). In addition, the intracerebroventricular administration of ANP inhibited the increase in both blood pressure and AVP secretion induced by the central administration of ANG II (2,8,22,27). It was suggested that circulating ANG II can stimulate AVP secretion in addition to exerting a potent pressor effect (22,23,30). However, it is still uncertain whether circulating ANP inhibits the response of AVP to circulating ANG II.In the present study, we investigated the effect of intravenous ANP infusion on the response of plasma AVP levels to intravenously infused ANG II in humans. Because the secretion of AVP is known to be inhibited by stimulation of the baroreceptors (11, 27), the pressor effect of ANG II may counteract its direct action of promoting AVP secretion. Thus, we evaluated the interaction between ANG II and ANP on AVP secretion while the elevations in arterial pressure and central venous pressure produced by ANG II were inhibited by simultaneous infusion of nitroprusside.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS
SubjectsWe evaluated eight healthy male volunteers (42 Ϯ 1 yr, mean age Ϯ SE). All subjects were within 10% of their ideal body weight and were determined to be free from endocrine, me...