EFFECT OF ORGANOMERCURIALS ON THE RENAL CONCENTRATING OPERATION IN HYDROPENIC MAN: COMMENTS ON SITE OF ACTION*

Abstract

In the course of a nonspecific solute diuresis in hydropenic man. solute-free water (TcH2O) rises progressively as solute clearence increases. With hypertonic salt and aminophylline, TcH2O reaches a somewhat higher peak than with mannitol. During an organomercurial diuresis TcH2O remains relatively fixed at whatever level prevailed prior to the development of the major solute diuresis. The administration of a nonspecific solute diuretic during the organomercurial diuresis increases TcH2O. When filtration rate is experimentally reduced in the course of a mercurial diuresis or of a comparable diuresis produced by a salt infusion, urine osmolality rises appreciably only in the salt-infused subjects. These findings suggest a disparity in the supply of solute to the loop of Henle, at every level of solute excretion, between a mercurial diuresis and a comparable diuresis produced by a nonspecific solute diuretic. This disparity supports the hypothesis that the major action of organomercurials resides at a site distal to the loop of Henle.