Role of renal prostaglandins during antidiuresis and water diuresis in man.

The relationship of renal prostaglandins to antidiuretic hormone action and water diuresis was examined in 13 normal subjects and 2 subjects with diabetes insipidus. Following overnight water deprivation, a oral water load caused a prompt and sustained rise in the rate of urinary PGE2 excretion from 7.7 +/- 1.2 to 81.6 +/- 26.4 ng/hr (P less than 0.0001) in 7 normal subjects. Because the simultaneous increase in urinary excretion of urea was only 17% of the rise in urinary PGE2, passive wash-out of renal PGE2 probably accounts for only a small fraction of the increment in PGE2 excretion. Administration of the antidiuretic hormone analogue DDAVP to 6 normal subjects during sustained water diuresis resulted in a decrease in PGE2 excretion and urine flow rate comparable to that of dehydrated subjects. Thus, PGE2 excretion varied directly with urine flow rate over a wide range of states of hydration in all 13 normal subjects. One patient with central diabetes insipidus and one with nephrogenic diabetes insipidus demonstrated a similar positive correlation of PGE2 excretion rate and urinary flow rate in states of hydration, dehydration, and after administration of DDAVP. In the patient with nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, this relationship of PGE2 excretion rate to urine flow rate was unaffedted by DDAVP over a broad range of urine flow rates. Inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis with indomethacin in 6 normal subjects resulted in a significant decline in free water clearance (7.7 +/- 1.0 to 4.7 +/- 0.9 ml/min. P less than 0.001) and an increase in the minimal UOsm (61 +/- 4 to 93 +/- 19 mOsm/kg. P less than 0.01) achieved during water diuresis without a change in creatinine or osmolar clearances. Furthermore, the tightly linked relationship of PGE2 excretion rate to urine flow rate was reduced in 5 of 6 subjects during indomethacin treatment. We conclude that urinary PGE2 excretion varies directly with urine flow rate and is not directly dependent on ADH activity or state of hydration in man. The rise in PGE2 excretion during water diuresis may enhance the excretion of free water since indomethacin treatment blunted free water clearance while suppressing the rise in PGE2 excretion.