The role of volume contraction in the hypocalciuric action of chlorothiazide.

Thiazide-induced hypocalciuria usually requires two to four days of drug treatment for its full expression. The present experiments were designed to test the possibility that an immediate hypocalciuria could be produced in subjects whose extracellular volumes were already contracted. In previously untreated subjects, chlorothiazide (2 g/day) did not produce hypocalciuria on the first day of treatment. Hypocalciuria occurred on the second day and was somewhat enhanced on the third and fourth days of treatment. In subjects pretreated with furosemide (40 mg two or three times a day for two days), chlorothiazide produced hypocalciuria on the first day of its use. Under the influence of chlorothiazide, there was a strong linear correlation between the changes in the excretion of calcium and sodium. The results are consistent with the idea that chlorothiazide enhances the ratio of calcium to sodium reabsorptions and that this tendency for absolute hypocalciuria can be overridden by a large natriuretic response to the drug. Volume contraction, which minimizes the natriretic response to diuretics, allows a more immediate and pronounced hypocalciuric response to thiazides.