Direct effects of endothelin in the rat kidney.

In the present study, we tested the direct effects of endothelin (ET) on rat kidney in vivo. ET was infused into the left renal artery of anesthetized rats at a rate of 0.5, 5, 20, or 40 pmol/h. ET reduced ipsilateral urine volume (V), clearance of inulin (CIN), and clearance of p-aminohippuric acid (CPAH) in a dose-dependent manner. Thus ET at 20 pmol/h did not change V but decreased renal plasma flow (RPF) and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) by 27.6 +/- 14.3 and 30.8 +/- 10.4%, respectively, in the ipsilateral kidney. ET at 0.5 pmol/h was without effect and at 5 pmol/h had only minor effects on CIN and CPAH of ipsilateral kidney. At 40 pmol/h, ET reduced ipsilateral V, GFR, and RPF by 52.3 +/- 21.4, 58.4 +/- 14.5, and 72.5 +/- 10.6%, respectively. Filtration fraction and fractional excretion of Na remained unchanged during ET infusion. ET, 40 pmol/h, infused into the renal artery together with atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) at a rate of 12 pmol/h reduced the ipsilateral V, GFR, and RPF by 33.2 +/- 6.3, 26.1 +/- 6.0, and 27.2 +/- 7.1%, respectively, decrements less than those with ET alone. When a calcium-channel blocker nicardipine was infused at a rate of 2.5 micrograms/h into the renal artery together with ET, 20 pmol/h, there was little change in the ipsilateral V, RPF, and GFR; ET, 40 pmol/h, with nicardipine did not change V and decreased GFR and RPF by 25.9 +/- 5.6 and 23.1 +/- 10.8%, respectively, decrements less than those without nicardipine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)