Antidiuretic action of the urine of patients in cardiac failure

Stimulated by the increasing interest in the operation of antidiuretic principles and the recent development of new concepts of the mechanism of heart failure, this investigation was planned to study antidiuretic effects of the urine of patients with heart failure. It is noteworthy that an antidiuretic effect was induced in hydrated dogs by the intravenous injection of concentrated dialyzed urine of 12 of 15 patients with congestive heart failure. No such effect was exerted by urine from normal controls. Additional studies indicated that the antidiuresis could not be attributed to a substance with the characteristics of commercial Pitressin.