Changes in renal function resulting from norepinephrine infusion

Abstract

The experiments of this study show that intravenous infusion of norepinephrine has a direct effect on the kidneys of areflex dogs to cause a decrease in renal blood flow, glomerular filtration rate, and urinary output. However, when the infusion rate is below an average of 0.0006 mg/kg/min, the renal blood flow, glomerular filtration rate, and urinary output increase as a result of an increase in arterial pressure which accompanies the infusion of norepinephrine. Above this infusion rate, the direct effect of the norepinephrine on the kidneys is greater than the effect of the rising arterial pressure, thus causing the blood flow, glomerular filtration rate, and urinary output to decrease. The results from this study indicate that changes in renal arterial pressure result in very significant changes in renal blood flow, glomerular filtration rate, and urinary output in spite of the local autoregulation of renal blood flow.