Renin content and excretory function of the kidney in rats with experimental hypertension

To determine relationship between kidney renin content and excretory function, rats with renal hypertension induced by unilateral clamping of the renal artery were given an oral load of 3 ml of 0.9% saline/100 g body wt. Excretion of the saline load was accelerated in rats with renal hypertension as well as in animals with hypertension due to overdosage with cortexone and salt, provided that the loading experiment was made 3–4 weeks after hypertension was established, but not when animals had been hypertensive for 11–14 weeks. Renin concentration was markedly reduced in the unclamped kidney and also in the kidney of the rats overdosed with cortexone and salt. Excreting capacity of the clamped kidney was compared with that of the unclamped kidney, after removal or after functional elimination of the contralateral kidney, by ligation of the ureter, 3, 24, and 48 hr after the operation. In all experiments excretion of saline load by the unclamped kidney was more rapid than by the clamped kidney, but the highest values were reached in the presence of a functional clamped kidney. Only in rats with elevated blood pressure was the load more rapidly excreted than in normal rats, but hypertension alone cannot be the only factor responsible, the excretion not being accelerated in unilaterally nephrectomized hypertensive rats. Although these hint at a connection between the renin concentration and renal function the nature of this relationship remains uncertain.