Altered pressure natriuresis in chronic angiotensin II hypertension in rats

J. van der Mark and R. L. Kline Department of Physiology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. Angiotensin II (ANG II; 10 or 30 ng/min iv) was infused for 7-10 days in unilaterally adrenalectomized and nephrectomized Sprague-Dawley rats drinking 1% NaCl. The acute pressure-natriuresis relationship was studied under Inactin anesthesia in volume-expanded rats with fixed neurohumoral influences on the remaining kidney. Renal interstitial hydrostatic pressure (RIHP) was measured using a catheter implanted into the renal cortex. Arterial blood pressure before laparotomy was 149 +/- 3 (SE) mmHg (n = 6) and 152 +/- 6 mmHg (n = 16) for ANG II-infused rats (10 and 30 ng/min, respectively) and 123 +/- 5 mmHg (n = 6) and 123 +/- 7 mmHg (n = 16) for the respective control rats. Compared with values in control rats, ANG II-infused rats had significantly (P < 0.05) lower urine flow and absolute and fractional sodium excretion at renal artery pressures of 115-150 mmHg. There were no significant differences between RIHP measured in control and ANG II-hypertensive rats. The shift in the pressure-diuresis, pressure-natriuresis, and pressure-fractional sodium excretion relationships was similar with both doses of ANG II and was reversed by the acute administration of losartan (10 mg/kg iv). In all groups of rats, renal blood flow was autoregulated, whereas glomerular filtration rate was not autoregulated in ANG II-infused rats and was significantly lower than that in control rats at the lower level of renal artery pressure. The data indicate that rats with ANG II-induced hypertension have a rightward shift of the pressure-natriuresis curve caused primarily by a decrease in fractional excretion of sodium. The lack of effect of chronic ANG II infusion on filtration fraction and RIHP suggests that the increased tubular reabsorption was due to a direct action of ANG II on renal tubules. The reversal of these effects by losartan suggests that the shift in the pressure-natriuresis curve in ANG II-induced hypertension is mediated by the AT1-receptor subtype.