The effects of sodium chloride, urea and mannitol on the permeability in vitro fo rat papillary collecting ducts to THO, 14C-urea and 22Na.

1. The diffusional permeabilities of collecting duct membranes to THO, 14C-urea and 22Na+ have been measured at different concentrations of urea, NaCl and mannitol. 2. In the absence of urea in perfusate and bath or in its presence in low concentrations, the diffusional permeability to urea was 2.0 (s.e.m. = 0.15, n = 58) micrometer s-1, compared with 0.87 (s.e.m. = 0.06, n = 29) microgram s-1 when 200 mmol/l urea was present. The permeability of the collecting ducts to THO or Na+ was not affected by the different urea concentrations. 3. High concentrations of sodium chloride increased the diffusional permeability of collecting ducts to water and urea but did not affect the diffusional permeability of the collecting duct to Na+. 4. Mannitol had effects similar to those of sodium chloride. 5. In all media tested there was an increase in THO and urea permeability when supramaximal amounts of antidiuretic hormone were added. The increases in the various media for each substance were similar, despite widely different starting permeabilities. 6. The results suggest that solutes and water move across collecting duct epithelium by several pathways that respond differently to various stimuli.