1986 Volume 28 Issue 6 Pages 815-820
To investigate the role of adrenal catecholamines (CAs) on the synthesis of renal CAs, renal contents of CAs, turnover of norepinephrine (NEp), urinary excretion of electrolytes and blood pressure were estimated after medullectomy (MEX) or adrenalectomy (ADX) a In the MEX-rats, renal content of NEp and NEp turnover of the kidney were significantly enhanced as compared with sham-operated rats. However, blood pressure, , heart rate, urinary excrection of electrolytes, plasma renin activity (PRA) and plasma aldosterone concentration were not different from the sham-operated rats. On the contrary, in the ADX-rats, increased content of renal NEp and enhanced turnover of NEp were observed in addition to a decrease of blood pressure, an enhanced urinary excretion of sodium, reduced urinary excretion of potassium and an increased level of PRA, as compared with the sham-operated rats. Although increased content of renal NEp and enhanced turnover of renal NEp were observed in both MEX and ADX rats, the ADX-rats showed reduction of blood pressure and a impaired urinary excretion of electrolytes which were probably due to insufficiency of adrenocortical steroid hormones. Therefore, the removal of adrenal medullary CAs induced to enhance the renal content of NEp and NEp turnover of kidney. Renal dopamine was not influenced by the removal of adrenal CA. From these results, it is suggested that the NEp synthesis of kidney was enhanced compensatively against the lack of adrenal CA for maintenance of blood pressure and electrolyte handlings of the kidney.
