Renoprotective effects of nitric oxide in angiotensin ii-induced hypertension in the rat. Chin, So Yeon, Chi-Tarng Wang, Dewan S. A. Majid, and L. Gabriel Navar. Tulane University School of Medicine, Department of Physiology SL39, 1430 Tulane Ave. New Orleans, LA. 70112, USA.
APStracts 5:0018F, 1998.
Experiments were performed in anesthetized male Sprague-Dawley rats to determine if increased nitric oxide (NO) activity during the development of hypertension exerts a protective effect on renal cortical blood flow (CBF) and medullary blood flow (MBF). The effects of acute NO synthase inhibition on renal function and on CBF and MBF, measured by laser-Doppler flow probes, were evaluated in control and Ang II-infused hypertensive rats, prepared by the infusion of Ang II at a rate of 65 ng/min via osmotic minipumps implanted subcutaneously for 13 days. In normotensive rats (N=8), intravenous infusion of N( -nitro-L-arginine (NLA; 20 (g/100g(min) decreased CBF by 21 ( 4% and MBF by 49 ( 8% and increased blood pressure from 118 ( 1 to 140 ( 2 mm Hg. In Ang II-infused rats (N=7), CBF and MBF decreased by 46 ( 5% and 25 ( 6%, respectively during infusion of NLA. Arterial pressure increased from 160 ( 5 to 197 ( 7 mm Hg which was a greater absolute increase than in normotensive controls. Basal renal blood flow, estimated from PAH clearance and hematocrit, was similar in both the control (6.0 ( 0.5 ml/min(g) and hypertensive (6.0 ( 0.6 ml/min(g) rats. However, NLA-induced reductions in RBF averaged 60 ( 5% in the hypertensive rats, compared to 31 ( 9% observed in control rats. GFR in control (0.97 ( 0.03 ml/min(g) and hypertensive rats (0.78 ( 0.12 ml/min(g) decreased to a similar extent during the first 30-minute period of NLA infusion. GFR returned toward control levels in control rats; in contrast, GFR remained significantly decreased in the Ang II-infused rats (0.58 ( 0.11 ml/min(g). Basal urinary sodium excretion (0.2 ( 0.08 (Eq/min(g), fractional excretion of sodium (0.3 ( 0.13%) and urine flow (4.9 ( 0.39 (l/min(g) in hypertensive rats did not increase significantly after NLA treatment as occurred in normotensive controls. These data suggest that a compensatory increase in nitric oxide activity partially counteracts the vasoconstrictor influence of elevated Ang II levels to regulate renal hemodynamics and maintain cortical perfusion in the renal circulation.

Received 31 July 1997; accepted in final form 7 January 1998.
APS Manuscript Number F256-7.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Renal Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1998 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 28 January 1998