Renal–adrenal interrelationships in experimental hypertension

Abstract

For several weeks after partial constriction of one renal artery, the fate of this "clipped" kidney seems to exert a determining influence on blood pressure. Rats that remained hypertensive throughout the experiment almost invariably had clipped kidneys averaging 0.16 to 0.22% of body weight. Below 0.1%, this kidney was usually quite atrophic, and its presence was consistent with falling or normal blood pressure. The untouched kidney in such rats was, on the average, heavier in the hypertensive than in the normotensive animals. Since the latter also had less renal tissue on the clipped side, it appears that factors leading to high blood pressure stimulated hypertrophy beyond the level provoked by renoprival factors. In rats on a high salt intake, 5 μg/day of D-aldosterone for 3 months stimulated significant true renal hypertrophy in the absence of a rise in blood pressure. Such hypertrophy was more pronounced in similar rats that had been getting 250 μg DOCA/day for 3 months but were also normotensive. Rats that developed hypertension on this latter regimen had still heavier kidneys. Renal hypertrophy appears to be a prehypertensive phenomenon which persists and can become even more pronounced in hypertension. The highest levels of renal hypertrophy were usually associated with significant adrenal hypertrophy. Endocrine functions may be involved in renal hypertrophy. This concept is discussed in relation to a phospholipid "renin inhibitor" recently isolated from dog and hog kidneys.