Modulation of noradrenaline release from rat cortical kidney slices: effects of angiotensin I and II.

Rat kidney slices were incubated with [3H]-noradrenaline and placed into a superfusion chamber between two platinum electrodes. The kidney slices accumulated and stored radioactivity. In kidney slices taken from rats whose sympathetic nerve terminals were destroyed by pretreatment with 6-hydroxydopamine accumulation of radioactivity was abolished. The alpha 2-adrenoceptor antagonist idazoxan (0.1-1 microM) enhanced but tetrodotoxin (TTX, 1 microM) or omission of calcium from the superfusion solution abolished the stimulation induced (S-I) outflow of radioactivity. Angiotensin (A) I (3-300 nM) and AII (1-100 nM) enhanced S-I outflow of radioactivity. The effect of AI was markedly attenuated by the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor captopril (3 microM) and that of AII was blocked by the AII receptor antagonist saralasin (1 microM). These results suggest that the kidney slice preparation is a valid technique to study modulation of renal noradrenaline release. Endogenous noradrenaline released from sympathetic nerves in rat kidney slices activates prejunctional alpha 2-adrenoceptors to inhibit its own release. AII, which can also be formed locally from AI in these kidney slices, activates prejunctional AII receptors to facilitate renal noradrenaline release.