Intrarenal adenosine produces hypertension by activating the sympathetic nervous system via the renal nerves in the dog.

Studies from our laboratory suggest that the afferent renal nerves from the clipped kidney enhance sympathetic nervous system activity in established one-kidney, one clip and two-kidney, one clip Goldblatt hypertension. Because adenosine is released during renal ischaemia and adenosine has been shown to increase the frequency of afferent renal nerve signals, we proposed the hypothesis that intrarenal adenosine might produce hypertension by activating the sympathetic nervous system via the afferent renal nerves. To examine this hypothesis, changes in arterial pressure and activity of the sympathetic nervous system were measured during renal artery infusion of adenosine before and after renal denervation in uninephrectomized sodium replete conscious dogs. Intrarenal adenosine infusion produced a 21 +/- 3 mmHg mean arterial pressure rise in association with an increase in plasma norepinephrine. Ganglionic blockade during intrarenal adenosine infusion resulted in a significantly greater decrease in arterial pressure compared to control responses. After renal denervation, intrarenal adenosine infusion resulted in no change in arterial pressure, plasma norepinephrine or arterial pressure response to ganglionic blockade. To further assess sympathetic activity changes, right renal norepinephrine secretion and multifibre efferent neural traffic were measured during left renal artery adenosine infusion in alpha-chloralose-anaesthetized dogs. Left renal artery adenosine infusion resulted in increased right renal vascular resistance in association with increased renal norepinephrine secretion and increased efferent neural activity. The data indicate that in the dog with intact renal nerves, intrarenal adenosine produces hypertension by activating the sympathetic nervous system.