Renin Substrate and Renal Hypertension, Including a One-Stage Method for Evisceration in the Rabbit

Abstract

After hepatectomy or . abdominal evisceration, tachyphylaxis to renin is more quickly produced than in normal rabbits. Such refractoriness once established in the liverless animal seems permanent, lasting for at least 4 hrs. These facts support the view that renin substrate is produced only by the liver. The persistence of renal hypertension after removal of the liver and after destruction of "floating" substrate by excess renin injns. makes untenable the theory that renal hypertension is mediated by the renin-angiotonin mechanism. This finding applies equally well to rabbits with early renal hypertension as to those with the late form.