Norepinephrine spillover faithfully reflects renal sympathetic nerve activity in conscious rabbits.

The relationship between directly recorded renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) and simultaneous renal norepinephrine (NE) spillover rate across the kidney at rest and in response to changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP) was examined in six conscious rabbits. Integrated RSNA and renal NE spillover rate at rest were 5.1 +/- 1.1 microV/s and 20.8 +/- 3.0 ng/min, respectively. Sodium nitroprusside infusions at 10 and 20 microgram.kg-1.min-1 significantly increased RSNA by 42 +/- 14 and 84 +/- 14% and renal NE spillover rate 39 +/- 22 and 107 +/- 22% in response to falls in MAP of 15 +/- 2 and 21 +/- 2 mmHg (19 and 27%), respectively. During phenylephrine infusion at 8 micrograms.kg-1.min-1, RSNA and renal NE spillover rate significantly decreased by 65 +/- 14 and 67 +/- 16%, respectively, in response to a 15 +/- 2 mmHg (19%) rise in MAP. There was a highly significant positive correlation between changes in directly recorded RSNA and changes in renal NE spillover rate (r = 0.81, P less than 0.01). The ratio of renal to total NE spillover rate at rest was 0.44 +/- 0.06. This ratio was decreased during both sympathetic stimulation (0.30 +/- 0.04) and inhibition (0.26 +/- 0.06). This study indicates that the measurement of renal NE spillover rate is a useful reliable method for detecting the changes in RSNA and its relative contribution to overall sympathetic nerve activity in response to physiological stimuli in conscious rabbits.