Divided renal and caval vein plasma renin activity in two-kidney two-clip hypertension in rabbits and variations of blood pressure, plasma volume and renal function following unilateral nephrectomy.

Determinations were made of peripheral plasma renin activity, blood pressure, plasma volume and blood urea nitrogen in rabbit models of two-kidney one-clip, two-kidney two-clip or one-kidney one-clip hypertension that were created by staged operation to produce functionally significant renal artery stenosis. The plasma renin activity in the divided renal veins and inferior caval vein was also measured in animals with two-kidney two-clip hypertension. In rabbits with two-kidney two-clip hypertension the plasma renin activity was significantly higher in the renal vein on the more involved side and comparable in the renal vein on the less involved side and the inferior caval vein. This response pattern of renin secretion, unilateral hypersecretion with contralateral suppression, was identical with that observed in animals with two-kidney one-clip hypertension. In animals with one-kidney one-clip hypertension there was a marked increase in plasma volume and blood urea nitrogen. The renovascular hypertension was in decreasing order of severity in animals with one-kidney one-clip hypertension, those with two-kidney two-clip hypertension and those with two-kidney one-clip hypertension.