The effect of suppression of prostaglandin synthesis on renal function in rats with intact and reduced renal mass.

The present study was undertaken to assess the role of prostaglandin system in the compensatory response to reduced nephron population, respective to renal function and electrolyte excretion. Intact and 5/6 nephrectomized rats were divided in 4 groups: 1) rats pretreated with indomethacin, 2) rats pretreated with the vehicle of indomethacin, 3) rats pretreated with sulindac, and 4) rats pretreated with the vehicle of sulindac. In normal rats, indomethacin administration resulted in a mild decrease in creatinine clearance and a significant reduction of the urinary Na excretion. In the rats with reduced renal mass treated with indomethacin, the creatinine clearance did not differ from that in the control group. The 24 h urinary sodium excretion and the fractional excretion of sodium, however, were significantly lower in the indomethacin treated animals than in the control rats. No change in the creatinine clearance or in the sodium excretion was observed in all groups pretreated with sulindac. The urinary PGE2 and thromboxane excretion was significantly lower in the indomethacin treated intact rats and the rats with reduced renal mass. Sulindac induced a slight decrease in urinary excretion of PGE2 in intact rats. No significant change in urinary excretion of PGE2 or thromboxane was seen after sulindac in the rats with reduced renal mass. The antinatriuretic effect of indomethacin was dissociated from changes in urine flow in all groups of animals, suggesting that the increase in Na reabsorption took place in a water impermeable segment of nephron. These results suggest that the compensatory increase in urinary Na excretion per nephron in rats with reduced nephron population at least partly depends on an intact prostaglandin synthesis.