Renal response to amino acid infusion in rats: effect of dopamine receptor antagonists and benserazide.

Previously, we have found that feeding is a dominant factor controlling urinary dopamine excretion (UDA) in conscious rats (Mühlbauer and Osswald 1992). Since the renal response to feeding is also characterized by an increase in glomerular filtration rate (GFR), we wanted to investigate in a first step whether the feeding-induced elevations of GFR and UDA could be causally related phenomena. Therefore, we studied the influence of dopamine synthesis and dopamine receptor blockade on the renal response to amino acid infusion (AA) in thiopental anesthetized rats. AA infusion (n = 7) increased GFR by 33 +/- 7% (P < 0.001) and UDA by 87 +/- 19% (P < 0.001). In the presence of benserazide (BZD, n = 5), an inhibitor of dopamine synthesis, infused i.v. at a dose of 30 micrograms/min/kg, UDA was suppressed to values below detection limit and the AA-induced GFR increase was abolished. Continuous intravenous infusion of the DA1 receptor antagonist SCH 23390 (SCH, n = 7) in a dose of 4.0 micrograms/kg/min did not prevent the AA-induced increase in GFR (33 +/- 3%, P < 0.001) and UDA (97 +/- 12%, P < 0.001). In contrast, S-sulpiride (SUL), a specific DA2 receptor antagonist, infused continuously i.v. in a dose of 5 micrograms/kg/min, completely abolished the AA-induced GFR increase, while UDA was increased 1.6-fold (P < 0.01). Like BZD, both dopamine receptor antagonists did not affect renal sodium excretion substantially. Our results suggest, that endogenous dopamine could act as a mediator in the renal response to amino acid infusion in the rat, most likely by activation of DA2 receptors.