Stimulation of rabbit renal PGE2 biosynthesis by dietary sodium restriction.

Immunoreactive prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) was measured in slices of renal papilla (P), outer medulla (OM), and cortex (C) before and after 30 min of incubation (biosynthesis) in Krebs-Ringer HCO3- buffer in rabbits on low (LS), normal (NS), and high (HS) sodium diets. The 24-h urine PGE2 was also measured daily for 10 days prior to incubation. Daily urine PGE2 was significantly higher (911 +/- 54 ng) in LS, decreasing to 605 +/- 33 at NS, and 558 +/- 48 ng at HS, Initial slice PGE2 was highest in P at LS (35.5 +/- 5.1 MICROGRAMS/G), 5.1 microgram/g), decreasing to 16.9 +/- 1.3 at NS and 18.0 +/- 2.6 micrograms/g at HS. Similar patterns were observed in OM and C, which were quantitatively much lower. PGE2 biosynthesis was highest at LS (P, 139 +/- 21; OM, 58.8 +/- 5.1; C, 0.20 +/- 0.05 micrograms.G-1.30 Min-1) and lowest at HS (P, 58.9 +/- 7.4; OM, 11.8 +/- 3.1; C, 0.07 +/- 0.01 micrograms.g-1.30 min-1). Although PGE2 concentration was higher in P than in OM, the percent increase in OM PGE2 biosynthesis on LS was 3--4 times greater than in P. Since OM is 28% and P is 2% of total renal mass, these results indicate that LS markedly stimulates PGE2 biosynthesis primarily in OM and to a lesser extent in P and C, findings suggesting an important role for OM PGE2 in the renal adaptation to sodium deprivation.