The prolonged pressor response to renin in the nephrectomized rat.

Angiotension I dose-response curves and renin clearances were studied in nephrectomized and paired sham-nephrectomized control rats under pentobarbital anesthesia. Both threshold and slope of the angiotensin dose-response curves were decreased 22 hours after nephrectomy. In addition, the ratio of renin clearance (determined during renin infusions) in the 22-hour-nephrectomized rat to that in paired 22-hour sham-nephrectomized controls was 0.50 +/- 0.03 (mean +/- SEM, P less than 0.001, n = 12 pairs). The finding of reduced renin clearance was confirmed by an indirect assessment of "effective renin clearance" based on a comparison of the blood pressure decline after renin injections with angiotensin I dose-response curves in the same rat. Overall, approximately half of the 50% fall in renin clearance could be accounted for by an immediate effect of removal of the kidney on renin clearance. This role of the kidney in renin clearance was confirmed by the finding of a renal venous-arterial renin ratio of 0.9 +/- 0.03 (P less than 0.005) during renin infusion in normal rats. It is concluded that both changes in the angiotensin I dose-response curve and decrease in plasma renin clearance contribute to the postnephrectomy prolongation of the renin pressor response in the rat.