Pharmacologic studies in Bartter's syndrome: opposite effects of treatment with antikaliuretic and antiprostaglandin drugs. Part I.

The effect of antikaliuretic agents (spironolactone, amiloride) and antiprostaglandin agents (indomethacin, ibuprofen) on plasma renin activity and potassium metabolism was studied in a patient with familial Bartter's syndrome. The decrease in renal potassium clearance in response to antikaliuretic treatment was only of a temporary nature, in contrast to the marked potassium retention seen after indomethacin therapy. Plasma renin activity showed a consistent increase after kaliuretics and a marked decrease in response to antiprostaglandin agents. The opposite effect of the drugs on plasma renin activity, due to their different sites of action on the pathophysiologic chain of events in Bartter's syndrome, given an explanation for the contrasting therapeutic results.