Humoral responses to intracerebroventricularly administered angiotensin II in dogs

The mechanism(s) by which intracerebroventricularly administered angiotensin II (ANG II) regulates aldosterone production was investigated in dogs with chronically implanted cannula into a lateral cerebroventricle. In salt-replete and salt-depleted dogs, artificial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with or without ANG II (1, 10, 100 ng X kg-1 X min-1) was infused intracerebroventricularly for 2 h under pentobarbital anesthesia. Artificial CSF produced no significant humoral changes. Intracerebroventricular ANG II decreased plasma renin activity and increased both ACTH and plasma cortisol in both groups but decreased plasma aldosterone (PA) only in salt-depleted dogs. Dexamethasone pretreatment during intracerebroventricular ANG II decreased PA further in salt-replete but not in salt-depleted dogs. Moreover, the fall in PA during intracerebroventricular ANG II in salt-depleted dogs was prevented when intravenous infusion of ANG II (10 ng X kg-1 X min-1) was given simultaneously to maintain circulating ANG II levels. We conclude that PA response to intracerebroventricular ANG II is mediated primarily through the renin-angiotensin system in the salt-depleted state; however, in the salt-replete state, ACTH assumes a more important role.