Cardiac output mediates the antihypertensive effect of vasopressin in spontaneous hypertension.

The contribution of cardiac output and total peripheral resistance to the fall in arterial pressure that follows cessation of a 3-h intravenous infusion of arginine vasopressin (AVP; 20 ng.kg-1.min-1) was studied in conscious spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats instrumented with radiotelemetric probes for recording of blood pressure and ultrasonic transit-time flow probes for measuring cardiac output. Cessation of a 3-h infusion of AVP resulted in a significant decrease in arterial pressure in SHR (14-17 mmHg below preinfusion control levels) but not in WKY or in vehicle-treated controls. The fall in pressure persisted for several days. The fall in pressure was associated with a large decrease in cardiac output of 22 +/- 2 ml/min below control levels in SHR, and the time course of the cardiac output response over several days approximated the time course of the pressure response. By contrast, total peripheral resistance remained elevated for some time on withdrawal of the AVP infusion. We conclude that the withdrawal-induced antihypertensive phenomenon in SHR is mediated by a fall in cardiac output and not by a decline in total peripheral resistance.