Renal response to blood volume expansion in Brattleboro rats after acute treatment with vasopressin.

The renal response to iso-oncotic blood volume expansion with bovine serum albumin was studied in anaesthetized homozygous Brattleboro (DI) rats after acute (1 day) pretreatment with 1 U arginine-vasopressin (AVP) compared to heterozygous controls. In AVP-treated DI (DI + AVP) rats, basal urine flow as well as urinary sodium, chloride, and potassium excretion, were not different from controls. Diuresis and kaliuresis induced by volume expansion were blunted in DI + AVP rats. However, natriuresis and chloruresis were exaggerated in DI + AVP rats. They increased faster, reached a higher maximum, but declined earlier, compared to controls. The blunted diuresis resulted in a positive volume balance by the end of the experiment in DI + AVP rats, whereas the controls showed restoration of normal balance. Significant retention of sodium and chloride was observed in controls, but not in DI + AVP rats, over the time of the experiment. DI + AVP rats lost significantly less potassium than controls during the experiment. As judged from the lithium clearance method, the exaggerated saluresis in DI + AVP rats was mainly due to a reduced proximal sodium reabsorption. Plasma immunoreactivity of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) rose during blood volume expansion and fell in the recovery period. It was not different between AVP-treated DI rats and controls at any time of the experiment. Inulin clearance was slightly, but not significantly, lower in DI + AVP rats and increased after blood volume expansion in DI + AVP rats only.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)