Pressor activity of renal venous effluent following constriction of renal artery in dogs

Abstract

The pressor activity and renin content of the renal venous effluent were determined daily for 10 days following constriction of 1 renal artery of 10 dogs and correlated with the observed rise in arterial blood pressure. The latter reached a maximum on the 3rd postoperative day and then declined gradually to its preoperative level by the 10th day following constriction of the artery. There was a concomitant increase in the pressor activity as well as in the renin content of the renal venous effluent, both of which like the blood pressure, declined to their preoperative levels by the 10th postoperative day. The pathogenesis of this acute hypertension differs from that of chronic hypertension in which no pressor material is detectable in the renal venous effluent. The substance in the renal venous blood responsible for its pressor activity, like angiotensin, was ultrafiltrable, heat-stable, destroyed by proteolytic enzymes and of comparable molecular size as determined chromato-graphically.