INFLUENCE OF RENAL NERVES ON THE SECRETION OF ALDOSTERONE IN THE RAT

ABSTRACT The effect of bilateral renal denervation on adrenocortical function has been studied in the rat. Adrenal function was assessed by measurement of the secretion rate of aldosterone and corticosterone into adrenal vein blood of anaesthetized animals by a modification of the double isotope procedure. Adrenal vein blood was collected two weeks after renal denervation or sham-denervation. In normally fed animals renal denervation did not influence the secretion rate of aldosterone. When the animals were given a sodium deficient diet for a period of one week before collection of adrenal vein blood, the adrenal response, with respect to secretion of aldosterone, was significantly reduced, but not abolished. When the renally denervated animals were fed a sodium deficient diet the entire, two-week, post-operative period, aldosterone secretion increased to the same extent as in the shamdenervated animals. Denervation did not affect the secretion rate of corticosterone in any of these experiments. It is concluded, on the basis of these studies on the effect of renal denervation, that renal nerves do not influence the secretion rate of aldosterone in the rat, when the diet contains a sufficient quantity of sodium. In the early stages of dietary sodium deficiency renal nerves are, in part, responsible for the increase in aldosterone secretion, while in more chronic states of sodium deficiency other, non-neural, mechanisms become more important in the regulation of aldosterone secretion.