[Effect of an antidiuretic hormone on the aldosterone level in the blood plasma of rats with chronic water load and limited sodium intake].

The concentration of aldosterone in blood plasma of rats with chronic water and restricted sodium chloride intake substantially rose after subcutaneous injection of the antidiuretic hormone pituitrin in physiological doses. No simultaneous increase in blood corticosterone was seen. The production of hormones by rat adrenals remained unchanged. The results of experiments made with ACTH alone or combined with pituitrin permitted the conclusion that the increase in aldosterone concentration was not linked with a possible stimulation of endogenous ACTH secretion. The augmentation of aldosterone concentration in the peripheral blood of rats with chronic water intake induced by pituitrin is likely to be due to a decrease in metabolic clearance of the hormone.