Autoregulation of renal blood flow in the rat: effects of growth and uninephrectomy.

As a result of normal maturation or after reduction in renal mass, renal blood flow (RBF) progressively increases. However, the effects of renal growth on the relationship of RBF to renal perfusion pressure (RPP) have not been systematically investigated. We examined RBF as a function of RPP in anesthetized young and adult rats that had been subjected to uninephrectomy or sham operation 3-4 wk previously. As a result of normal growth, mean arterial blood pressure increased from 94.1 +/- 2.7 (SE) to 118.9 +/- 4.2 mmHg. The calculated autoregulation factor, in which a value less than 1 indicates the presence of autoregulation, was 0.44 +/- 0.10 over RPP 70-100 mmHg and 1.74 +/- 0.25 over RPP 40-70 mmHg in sham-operated young animals. In adult sham-operated rats, the factor was 0.38 +/- 0.07 over RPP 100-130 mmHg and 1.03 +/- 0.07 over RPP 70-100 mmHg. Uninephrectomy in adults resulted in a 30% rise in RBF over RPP 100-130 mmHg, and there was no change in the autoregulation factor. Uninephrectomy in young rats, however, resulted in a 35% rise in RBF at RPP = 100 mmHg with only a 17% rise at RPP = 70 mmHg, and the autoregulation factor increased to 0.91 +/- 0.10 over this range of RPP. We conclude that the autoregulatory range shifts with increasing blood pressure during normal growth and that autoregulation is "reset" to higher RBF in the uninephrectomized adult rat. Although autoregulation takes place in the young animal, uninephrectomy alters the relationship of RBF to RPP such that autoregulation is impaired.