Effect of prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors on renal blood flow in the rat.

Using a small-diameter electromagnetic flow transducer, the effect on the autoregulation of renal blood flow (RBF) of two structurally different prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors, indomethacin, 4 mg/kg BW, and meclofenamate, 5 mg/kg BW, was studied in nondiuretic rats anesthetized with either the oxybarbiturate, sodium pentobarbital, or the thiobarbiturate, Inactin. Regardless of the anesthetic agent, RBF remained relatively constant above a perfusion pressure of 105 mmHg. Treatment with either indomethacin or meclofenamate had no measurable effect on the autoregulatory response. Each agent, however, resulted in an increase in the renal vascular response to exogenous angiotensin II, an effect consistent with prostaglandin synthetase inhibition. Base-line RBF was significantly reduced by indomethacin or meclofenamate only in those animals that had previously received angiotensin. These results support the hypothesis that, in th rat, autoregulation of RBF occurs independently of prostaglandin activity, but that a relationship does exist between the renal vascular actions of angiotensin II and prostaglandins.