INCREASED RENAL PROSTANOID SYNTHESIS AFTER UNCLIPPING THE ONE-KIDNEY, ONE-CLIP HYPERTENSIVE RAT: EFFECT OF RENAL DENERVATION

SUMMARY 1. Renal denervation of hypertensive one‐kidney, one‐clip (1K, 1C) rats resulted in a minor fall in blood pressure (216, s.e.m. = 4, to 182, s.e.m. =4, mmHg) 24 h later, which returned to predenervation levels within 1 week. 2. Subsequent unclipping led to a similar fall in blood pressure in denervated (202, s.e.m. = 4 to 142, s.e.m. = 3) and sham‐denervated (211, s.e.m. = 5 to 147, s.e.m. = 4) rats. 3. Unclipping also resulted in a marked rise in urinary PGE2 and 6‐keto PFG1α in both denervated and sham‐denervated animals. 4. It appears that 1K, 1C hypertension, 8 weeks after clipping, is only slightly dependent on renal nerves. 5. Unclipping results in increased renal synthesis of PGE2 and PGI2 which is not dependent on intact renal innervation.