Angiotensin-related sodium appetite and thirst in cattle.

Cows depleted of Na by loss of saliva from a parotid fistula for 46 h had an avid appetite for Na solution. They drank 21.0 +/- 1.6 liter of 0.3 M NaHCO3-NaCl solution during 2 h of access but little or no water during that time. Solutions of angiotensin II or captopril were infused for 3 h intravenously or into a lateral ventricle (intracerebroventricular) beginning 1 h before access to Na solution. Intravenous angiotensin II increased Na intake (to 26.8 +/- 2.9 liter, P less than 0.01) but did not alter water intake. Intracerebroventricular angiotensin II increased water intake but did not alter Na intake. Intravenous captopril reduced Na intake (to 11.0 +/- 2.1 liter, P less than 0.001) and concurrent intravenous angiotensin II prevented the reduction but concurrent intracerebroventricular angiotensin II did not. Intracerebroventricular captopril did not alter Na or water intake. Intravenous captopril reduced to zero the water intake during the hour before Na access, and concurrent intravenous angiotensin II prevented that reduction also. The dipsogenic action of intracerebroventricular angiotensin II was potentiated by intravenous captopril. The results of these experiments suggest that if angiotensin II receptors involved in the mechanism regulating Na appetite are in the brain, they are accessible only from the blood, e.g., in circumventricular organs. Thirst was inhibited by reduction of angiotensin II in blood but was stimulated only by angiotensin II acting inside the blood-brain barrier.