THE EFFECT OF NEPHRECTOMY ON THE BLOOD PRESSURE RESPONSE TO RENIN AND ANGIOTONIN

Abstract

The intensity and duration of the blood pressure response to renin are essentially the same before and after nephrectomy. In some animals the duration of the response is somewhat increased following nephrectomy. Renin has many properties which would suggest that it is closely related to the mechanism responsible for arterial hypertension of renal origin. Among these are the consistent presence of renin in kidney extracts, the reaction of renin with some of the constituents of the blood (renin-activator) to produce a new pressor material (angiotonin), and the reduction in intensity of response to renin seen in adrenalec-tomized animals. Renin however has not fulfilled one of the criteria necessary for the substance responsible for hypertension, since no consistent potentiation of the intensity or duration of the blood pressure response occurs after nephrectomy. The increase in duration of the response seen in some animals after nephrectomy is not of the order which would be predicted on the basis of previous expts. The similarity in the blood pressure response to angiotonin before and after total nephrectomy suggests that the kidney is not responsible for the destruction or elimination of this substance.