The importance of renal prostaglandin synthesis in maintaining renal blood flow and glomerular filtration after renal artery stenosis in the conscious dog.

We studied the effects of inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis on the renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate of four conscious dogs with chronic unilateral renal artery stenosis. Dogs were prepared by exteriorizing the bladder trigone to allow repeated split renal function studies. Renal artery stenosis was produced with a Goldblatt clamp on one renal artery. Each of ten studies determined the function of each kidney in the conscious dog before and after indomethacin treatment. Administration of indomethacin resulted in a 90 per cent reduction of urinary prostaglandin E excretion, but no functional changes were produced in the kidney with the stenotic artery. These studies indicate that renal prostaglandins are not responsible for maintenance of creatinine and para-aminohippuric acid clearances after renal artery stenosis in the dog. However, the concentration gradient for creatinine between the stenotic and non-stenotic kidney was enhanced by indomethacin.